Do you use your electronic medical record system to prepare prescriptions and then hit “send” to transmit them to the pharmacy? It is possible your EMR is automatically generating a fax to the pharmacy. Effective January 1, 2009, those computer generated faxes will no longer be in compliance with Medicare requirements. Prescriptions written using e-prescribing or EMR systems must be sent electronically to the pharmacy and not via fax (click to view excerpt from The Federal Register).
Most EMR users believe that they are already sending prescriptions to pharmacies electronically and are unaware that they are routing prescriptions to the pharmacy’s fax machine. If you are a physician or practice management professional at one of these practices, you should know that starting January 1, 2009, CMS, under the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA), will require all Medicare Part D computer generated prescriptions to comply with NCPDP Script standard, and thus be transmitted electronically and not via fax. Additionally, you are also missing out on significant practice efficiency and patient safety improvements.
The E-Prescribing Readiness Assessment takes less than 5 minutes. Upon completion, you will immediately receive a report that will let you know whether your practice’s EMR/e-prescribing technology is certified for a direct electronic connection with pharmacies and the steps you should take to establish your connection.
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