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AMA enhances its e-prescribing help site

Now all physicians can access guidance on everything from selecting a system to calculating incentive earnings.

By Pamela Lewis Dolan — Posted July 14, 2009

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The American Medical Association has unveiled its enhanced online e-prescribing learning center and opened it up to all physicians.

The learning center, first launched April 1, offers a one-stop shop for physicians seeking information on e-prescribing and advice on how to get started.

The site recently was enhanced to offer additional features, including a system-finder tool that selects three systems for a user based on responses to a brief questionnaire and a calculator to help physicians determine how much they can earn in Medicare e-prescribing incentives (link).

A recent online survey by the AMA found that e-prescribing use in physician practices has grown to 30% from 13% last year. One reason is that in January, Medicare started providing incentives to doctors who e-prescribe. Those incentives will turn to penalties in 2012. The AMA survey also found that 43% of physicians find the incentive program confusing.

"Health information technology continues to be a hot issue in health care, and electronic prescribing can be a physician's first step into health IT," said Joseph M. Heyman, MD, immediate past chair of the AMA Board of Trustees. "Incorporating an e-prescribing system into your practice can help reduce medication errors and drug interactions and also help prepare the practice for future technologies like electronic health records."

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rolled out a resource site last year to give physicians information on how to receive the bonus payments (link).

SureScripts, an electronic network founded by the pharmacy industry that connects pharmacies and physicians, also started a similar learning center earlier this year (link)

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