On November 16, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule to implement final eprescribingstandards for the Medicare Part D program (72 Fed.Reg. 64900). Any prescriber or dispenser who electronicallytransmits prescription data and certain other information relatedto a Part D beneficiary will be required to comply with thesestandards. Comments on this proposed rule will be accepteduntil January 15, 2008. CMS is statutorily required to issue finaluniform standards by April 1, 2008.
In this rule, CMS specifically proposes to:
- Adopt the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs SCRIPT Standard,Implementation Guide, Version 8, Release 1 (NCPDP SCRIPT 8.1) as the final standard forPart D e-prescribing
- Adopt an e-prescribing standard for the transmission of medication history information
- Adopt an e-prescribing standard for the transmission of formulary and benefit information
- Adopt the national provider identifier (NPI) as the standard identifier for e-prescribingtransactions
The two new e-prescribing standards are intended to promote patient safety and cost savings. CMS explainsthat the establishment of a standard for the transmission of medication history information should reduceadverse drug events by allowing prescribers to review what medications have previously been prescribed to thebeneficiary. The standard for the transmission of formulary and benefit information is expected to reduce costs(to both Part D plans and beneficiaries) by enabling providers to determine which drugs are included on eachbeneficiary’s formulary.
CMS notes in the preamble to the rule that e-prescribing remains voluntary for providers and pharmacists.Providers and pharmacists have traditionally opposed mandatory e-prescribing and have complained about thehigh cost of adopting health information technology generally. The insurance industry and pharmacy benefitmanagers, on the other hand, have strongly urged the adoption of mandatory e-prescribing. This rule does notgo that far, but does establish uniform standards for e-prescribing applicable to the Medicare Part D program.CMS claims that the adoption of e-prescription has the potential to halve the number of adverse drug eventsexperienced annually by Medicare beneficiaries.November 27, 2007 Health Care
A copy of the proposed rule is available at:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/07-5681.pdf
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