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Electronic prescriptions
Reference: This news release dated 1/27/2005 states: "HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced new proposed regulations that will support electronic prescriptions for Medicare when the prescription drug benefit takes effect in January 2006. " Stratford's policy is to support any federally mandated EDI transaction set. We plan to support this standard as soon as the specifications are published. The proposed e-prescribing regulations will adopt standards for:
As part of the MMA, Medicare will require drug plans participating in the new prescription drug benefit to support electronic prescribing. Do not waste money on a proprietary prescribing system which is not based on this standard. The MMA calls for a pilot project to test e-prescribing standards for which there is not adequate industry experience before their adoption by CMS. CMS soon will be soliciting applications from physicians, physician groups, hospitals, prescription drug plan sponsors, Medicare Advantage organizations, pharmacies, and other appropriate entities to participate in pilots to test new or emerging standards and other aspects of e-prescribing implementations. These standards could provide for transmission of medical history, alerts to adverse drug interactions, and suggestions for lower-cost, therapeutically equivalent alternative medications. Electronic prescribing, or "e-prescribing," enables a physician to transmit a prescription electronically to the patient's choice of pharmacy. It also enables physicians and pharmacies to obtain from drug plans information about the patient's eligibility and medication history. Having access to this information at the point of care makes writing, filling and receiving prescriptions quicker and easier, and it also makes it possible for physicians and pharmacies to make informed decisions about appropriate and lower-cost therapeutically-equivalent alternative medications. e-prescribing can improve patient safety and reduce avoidable health care costs by decreasing prescription errors due to hard-to-read physician handwriting and by automating the process of checking for drug interactions and allergies. e-prescribing can also help make sure that patients and health professionals have the best and latest medical information at hand when they make important decisions about choosing medicines, and enabling beneficiaries to get the most benefits at the lowest cost. Standards for communicating and interpreting health data are essential for obtaining greater benefits of e-prescribing. The current lack of common standards is a barrier to the use of health information technology, including e-prescribing. Adoption of e-prescribing standards by Medicare is expected to spur the use of e-prescribing throughout the nation's health care system. News: Stratford has coded the data tables and you can enter prescription information now and your computer can print/fax the prescription now. Stratford clients will be able to write prescriptions from screens inside the Stratford program with full access to electronic medical records, billing information and any other information that is related to a specific patient. This is not a 3rd-party application 'glommed' onto the Stratford program. This is an original Stratford, fully integrated software application. The current version of Stratford Software has this capability although the transmission capability will not be fully activated until a standard is selected. Selected Stratford clients may now be granted access to the screens inside a 'test' account (which include their 'real' patient accounts) if they agree to give feedback to Stratford. If you are interested, please send an email to support@stratfordsoftware.com. For More Information Contact:
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