As health care costs continue to rise, groups in both the public and private sectors are urging doctors to adopt electronic prescribing technology and stumping for legislation that would require it, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
Most pharmacies are equipped to receive e-prescriptions, but only 6% of U.S. physicians have the necessary software, according to SureScripts. The upfront technology costs can be expensive, and more tenured physicians have been reluctant to adopt an electronic system. However, widespread adoption of e-prescriptions could save the government $29 billion over 10 years, according to one estimate.
Employers
Ford, General Motors, Verizon, Wal-Mart and Dow Chemical are among the companies pushing for widespread e-prescription adoption and urging Congress to pass e-prescribing legislation.
Ford said it saved $3 million in 2007 after purchasing e-prescribing software for the physicians in its employee health network. The savings came primarily from the use of more generic drugs, which rose from 55% to 70%, the AP/Post-Intelligencer reports.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart's CEO last month pledged to work with physicians and insurers to increase the number of e-prescriptions filled in the U.S.
Lobbying Congress
Pharmacy benefit managers -- such as MedcoHealth Solutions and CVS Caremark, which stand to gain the most from e-prescribing use -- spent more than $250,000 last year lobbying Congress on a bill proposed by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). The bill would pay Medicare doctors a bonus each time they e-prescribe and eventually would cut payments to physicians who do not use the technology.
Analysts say e-prescribing legislation has a good chance of becoming law this year.
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said he supports a proposal that would help physicians purchase e-prescribing software, reward them each time they use the technology and penalize them if they have not adopted e-prescribing by 2011.
The American Medical Association has said it opposes penalties for physicians that use handwritten prescriptions (Perrone, AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2/19).