Nearly half of Medicare Part D plan sponsors had implemented or
planned to implement incentive programs to increase provider adoption
of e-prescribing as of September 2008, the Department of Health and
Human Services Office of Inspector General said in a report released
Oct. 20.
Starting in 2010, plans will be required to collect prescription
origin information on new prescriptions to track the rate of adoption
of e-prescribing in the Part D program.
Only a quarter of the insurers that had such incentive programs,
however, had measured program outcomes, with a majority of the plans
unable to quantify what effect the initiatives had on prescribing, the
OIG said in its report, Medicare Part D Plan Sponsor Electronic
Prescription Initiatives (OEI-05-08-00322).
Of the plans that tracked results of the voluntary e-prescribing
initiatives, most reported benefits of the incentives. Most often, the
OIG said, the benefits were increases in generic substitutions and
increases in formulary compliance.
Over half of all plans with a voluntary e-prescribing initiative
reported average or high levels of participation in the programs, the
OIG said in its report, with at least some plans saying their
implementation strategies contributed to high levels of participation.
For example, some plans mandated that their staff physicians used
e-prescribing technology or tied quality bonuses to e-prescribing.
Plans that offer incentives to prescribers to encourage
e-prescribing most often provide training and software rather than
financial rewards. However, the OIG said, there is no prevailing model
for plan incentive programs to providers. Other incentives plans have
included in their programs are systems hardware, internet
connectivity, and educational materials.
Part D plan sponsors are required under Medicare law to implement
four e-prescribing standards and provide technical infrastructure to
support interoperable e-prescribing systems, the OIG noted. However,
prescribers--doctors and other health care providers--who treat Part D
beneficiaries are not similarly required to adopt e-prescribing.
The OIG included no recommendations in its report.
The report is available at
http://www.oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-05-08-00322.pdf.
Copyright 2009, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.