As expected, HHS issued new rules designed to encourage electronic medical records and e-prescribing yesterday. CMS will be announcing a foundation standard for ePrescribing and provide $6 million in funding for e-prescribing pilots using that standard. The new Medicare Part D will not, however, require the use of ePrescribing, and some industry participants are unhappy that those standards will only apply to transactions in that program and not all ePrescribing. In addition, CMS announced that it has awarded a grant to MedCo to a fund a study of the effectiveness of a Michigan e-prescribing initiative, one well-established project.
As reported yesterday, under new government rules it is legal for hospitals and certain other health organizations to donate or sell software to doctors offices.
- see this press release from HHS
PLUS: In another EMR/EHR development, Rep. John Porter (R-Nev.) said he will introduce legislation that would require an electronic health record for every federal employee. Article