Bill Authorizes Payments for E-Script Utilization
A new bill, H.R. 6331, recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, calls for the provision of payments to clinicians who implement electronic prescribing tools. Also included in the legislation are modifications to a number of provisions in Medicare programming. The bill passed by a vote of 355-59.
Payments will be made available starting in 2009 and run over a five year period. The incentives for both that year and 2010 will be two percent, one percent for 2011 and 2012, and only 0.5 percent in 2013.
The bill, “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008″, also calls for new electronic prescribing quality measures to be reported. This is one component of the new physicians reporting system from Medicare.
Another bill which is similar in nature is being reviewed by the Senate, S. 3101. Both of these pieces of legislation will prevent a planned 10.6 percent cut in the rate for Medicare reimbursement fees which would otherwise commence July 1st. Under the terms of the two proposed bills, reimbursement rates would remain the same during the rest of the year and increase more than one percent next year.
Another consideration described in both pieces of legislation is increased payments for those providers in rural areas and increased funding for mental health coverage. The competitive bidding process for durable medical equipment will also be delayed 18 months.
June 27, 2008 Related topics: Legal & legislative