Common ePrescribing Standard Needed, PCMA Says
Medicare should quickly adopt a comprehensive electronic prescribing system based on a technologically advanced uniform national standard to realize the full benefits of eprescribing under the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) recently told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
"PCMA believes that Medicare eprescribing holds the potential to transform the healthcare delivery system," said PCMA President Mark Merritt. "Regrettably, a 50-state patchwork approach would increase costs, decrease efficiency and severely undermine the promise of eprescribing."
PCMA made the recommendations in its comments on the proposed rule for Medicare Part D electronic prescribing. HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt announced the proposed regulations in January, and the Federal Register published the proposal Feb. 4.
In a letter to CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, Merritt says the association "is concerned with the limited manner in which CMS has interpreted its pre-emption authority. We recommend that CMS revise the limited interpretation of pre-emption to ensure the federal standards fully pre-empt any state law or regulation that affects eprescribing. We believe the clear intent of Congress was to limit the barriers of physician and pharmacist adoption of eprescribing and provided CMS with the authority necessary to ensure a single national standard."
Merritt cited comments and reports from the HHS and the Government Accountability Office that express the need for a common standard.
For more information about the proposed rule on Medicare Part D electronic prescribing, go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicarereform/E-Prescribing.pdf (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicarereform/E-Prescribing.pdf). To view PCMA's comments, go to http://www.pcmanet.org/ (http://www.pcmanet.org/).
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