The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association on Thursday will begin lobbying in Washington, D.C., for electronic prescription adoption, CongressDaily reports.
PCMA president Mark Merritt said that he wants physicians who participate in Medicare to be required to electronically send prescriptions to pharmacies. He said that Medicare would pay physicians more to cover the cost of the technology and training.
The e-prescribing proposal could offset part of the cost of a two-year, $30 billion physician-payment fix being pushed by some key House Democrats, according to Merritt.
Merritt noted that a study he commissioned from the Gorman Health Group, a consultant to companies serving Medicare, found that the e-prescribing proposal could save up to $29 billion over 10 years.
The pharmaceutical group on Thursday began running print ads in the Washington, D.C., area to promote the joining of Medicare physicians and e-prescribing (Serafini, CongressDaily, 7/12).