‣ Conference Pushes for E-prescribing
The recent National E-prescribing Conference
drew >1400 health care professionals
and industry leaders. Hosted by
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS), the conference encouraged
the adoption of electronic prescribing
(e-prescribing).
An e-prescribing incentive payment
program is included in the recently
enacted Medicare Improvements for
Patients and Providers Act of 2008.
Under the legislation, scheduled to
begin January 1, 2009, physicians who
adopt e-prescribing technology in 2009
and 2010 will receive a 2% bonus in their
Medicare payments. Clinicians who use
the technology in 2011 and 2012 will
receive a 1% bonus; and those who use
it in 2013 will receive a 0.5% bonus.
Physicians who do not use the technology
will see a reduction in their Medicare
payments.
"Some doctors have been doing it for
10-plus years, and some will continue
to resist it," noted David Brailer, MD,
chairman of Health Evolution Partners.
Health and Human Services Secretary
Michael O. Leavitt said, "We need the
health care system to get better, and
e-prescribing is the next logical step."
As for selecting e-prescribing technology,
the government has not designated
a preferred vendor. "We've kept it vendor
neutral," explained Kerry Weems,
CMS acting administrator. "We said,
'Let's have standards and let the market
dictate who meets them.'"
‣ IntelliDOT Modules Help Optimize Patient Safety
Louisiana State University Health Care
Services Division plans to integrate 3
modules from IntelliDOT Corp as part
of an enhanced patient safety initiative.
The IntelliDOT Bedside Medication
Administration has easy-to-read screen
prompts that guide the nurse through
medication administration workflows
at the bedside. The system is used to
verify the 5 rights of medication administration.
Each nurse receives customized
prompts and warnings to ensure
medications are administered and documented
correctly.
Using the same handheld device and
a small portable wireless printer, the
IntelliDOT Mother–Baby Breast Milk
Matching allows the nurse to print bar
code labels for milk containers at the
time the milk is received from the mother,
or the mother can take and apply the
labels at home. At administration, the
infant's identification band is scanned
along with the breast milk container,
ensuring positive identification and
accurate feeding.
The IntelliDOT Vital Signs Collection
takes vital sign information and clinical
documentation and captures it using
the same handheld device. The captured
data can populate the electronic
medication administration record or
electronic flow sheets and/or print on
separate patient-specific flow sheets.
The admissions, discharges, transfers,
and pharmacy-encoded orders
will be passed from McKesson Horizon
Pharmacy System via an HL7 interface
and will be sent wirelessly to the
IntelliDOT handheld.
‣ Guide Helps Clinicians Go Paperless
The eHealth Initiative and several health
care organizations have issued the first
comprehensive how-to guide to help clinicians
make informed decisions about
how and when to transition from paper
to electronic prescribing (e-prescribing)
systems.
"We know e-prescribing is an efficient
way to improve health care delivery,
decrease medication errors, and
prevent potentially dangerous drug
interactions," said Janet Marchibroda,
eHealth Initiative chief executive officer.
"However, the transition from a
paper to electronic system is quite challenging."
Developed under the guidance of a
steering group comprised of clinicians,
pharmacies, health plans, employers,
and 4 major medical associations,
"A Clinician's Guide to Electronic
Prescribing" is designed to meet the
needs of 2 target audiences. The first
section of the guide targets office-based
clinicians who are new to the concept
of e-prescribing. The second section of
the guide targets office-based clinicians
who are ready to move forward and
bring e-prescribing into their practices.
‣ CA Hospital Implements PharmASSIST Solutions
Little Company of Mary Hospital-Torrance
(Torrance, CA) has implemented
Innovation's PharmASSIST ROBOTx
and PharmASSIST Symphony systems
as a key component of its ongoing
patient safety initiative.
From a workflow perspective, PharmASSIST
Symphony provides bar code
scanning for every step of the pharmacy's
fulfillment process. To begin
the workflow, pharmacy staff scan
every hard copy prescription, enabling
a paperless workflow by which they
can view the original prescription image
during Rx verification or when tracking
or troubleshooting a prescription.
In order to process an average of
200 Rxs daily, with peaks reaching 250,
the pharmacy employs a 100 dispenser
ROBOTx system completely integrated
with the PharmASSIST Symphony
workflow and its workstations. The
PharmASSIST systems are in turn integrated
with the pharmacy's HCC pharmacy
management system and Voice-Tech IVR for refill processing
Inside the Issue
