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E-prescribing urged for Medicare...
Posted on Oct 22, 2007A coalition of consumer, union, business and other groups in an Oct. 16 letter to chairs and ranking members of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees called on Congress to require all Medicare drug benefit prescriptions be issued electronically by 2010, CQ HealthBeat reports. The committees have jurisdiction over the issue. The letter notes that e-prescriptions could prevent 1.9 million adverse prescription drug events over the next 10 years and save the program billions of dollars, even after providing physicians with funding to implement the new technology and to provide training. The letter's authors also advocated for annual incentives to physicians who e-prescribe equal to 1% of their allowed Medicare payments. Groups that signed the letter include the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Aetna, the HR Policy Association, Consumers Union, Families USA and the AFL-CIO.
