American Medical Association officials outline provisions physicians would accept in electronic prescribing legislation

May 13 2008

The American Medical Association on Friday discussed a set of standards that physicians would accept for any electronic prescribing requirement under Medicare, CongressDaily reports.

According to CongressDaily, AMA "has been considered the largest barrier to enacting e-prescribing legislation" because of the group's "concerns over the cost of adopting and implementing the technology" (Edney, CongressDaily, 5/9). Some consumer, labor, insurer and business groups have said that the Medicare package that the Senate Finance Committee is drafting should include language to require physicians participating in Medicare to e-prescribe, CQ HealthBeat reports. In addition, separate legislation (S 2408, HR 4296) would require e-prescribing in Medicare and would offer payment incentives to encourage e-prescribing adoption.

AMA officials announced the proposal at a forum sponsored by the Brookings Institution's Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 5/9).

Steven Stack, an AMA board member and emergency physician, called on lawmakers to ensure that CMS releases a final rule for e-prescribing standards by the end of 2009. The agency last month issued three standards and intends to release three more, CongressDaily reports.

Stack also said that physicians should be permitted at least two years to implement e-prescribing technology before they are subject to Medicare payment reductions. Lawmakers also should allow exceptions for physicians with small practices, rural physician offices and emergency cases. AMA also called for the removal of a Drug Enforcement Administration rule that would prohibit e-prescribing of controlled substances (CongressDaily, 5/9).

Stack said, "We want to do this," adding, "We are not interested in being a barrier."

Other Forum Comments

Forum participants also raised concerns about evolving medical practice patterns and e-prescribing technology, as well as patient privacy issues such as data collection and sales.

Deborah Peel, founder and chair of Patient Privacy Rights, said that lawmakers should consider strict penalties on data mining by insurers, pharmacies and marketers without patient consent. However, Steve Findlay, managing editor of Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs, said that the opportunity for abuse of patient data is "relatively small."

John Rother, group executive officer for policy and strategy at AARP, said an AARP survey found that 92% of people ages 65 and older wanted their physicians to e-prescribe. He said that e-prescribing is "convenient," "safer" and alerts patients and their doctors to lower-priced generic medications, possible drug interactions and whether a medication is covered by insurance (CQ HealthBeat, 5/9).