Darren Triller
November 14th, 2007, 12:18 PM
Today, CMS placed a Notice of Proposed Rule Making on display at the
Federal Register announcing a proposal to adopt the Formulary and
Benefits and Medication History e-prescribing standards for the
prescription drug program. The proposed rule
also calls for industry comments on several matters,
including the feasibility of adopting a standard for fill status. (SEE ATTACHED)
The standard for formulary and benefits allows prescribers to see up
front which drugs are covered under a beneficiary's Medicare drug
benefit plan as well as a list of alternative drugs. This functionality
improves compliance, reduces administrative overhead for doctors and
pharmacists and allows the provider in many cases to substitute a
generic drug, thus saving the patient money. With medication history,
providers will know at the point of care which drugs have been
prescribed and claimed by their patients, and which drugs could have
harmful interactions. For more information on these standards, you may
also see CMS' pilot study completed earlier this year.
While e-prescribing is voluntary under the Medicare prescription drug
benefit, providers and pharmacies that transmit prescriptions for
Medicare covered drugs electronically are required to comply with any
applicable final standards that are in effect. Further, all Part D
plans are required to maintain e-prescribing systems that conform to the
final standards. CMS is looking forward to the comments on this
proposed rule.
Federal Register announcing a proposal to adopt the Formulary and
Benefits and Medication History e-prescribing standards for the
prescription drug program. The proposed rule
also calls for industry comments on several matters,
including the feasibility of adopting a standard for fill status. (SEE ATTACHED)
The standard for formulary and benefits allows prescribers to see up
front which drugs are covered under a beneficiary's Medicare drug
benefit plan as well as a list of alternative drugs. This functionality
improves compliance, reduces administrative overhead for doctors and
pharmacists and allows the provider in many cases to substitute a
generic drug, thus saving the patient money. With medication history,
providers will know at the point of care which drugs have been
prescribed and claimed by their patients, and which drugs could have
harmful interactions. For more information on these standards, you may
also see CMS' pilot study completed earlier this year.
While e-prescribing is voluntary under the Medicare prescription drug
benefit, providers and pharmacies that transmit prescriptions for
Medicare covered drugs electronically are required to comply with any
applicable final standards that are in effect. Further, all Part D
plans are required to maintain e-prescribing systems that conform to the
final standards. CMS is looking forward to the comments on this
proposed rule.