Is e-prescribing at a stalemate?

WASHINGTON - AAHomecare's Kim Brummett and a group of providers recently briefed a CMS contractor on why there isn't greater adoption of e-prescribing platforms for HME.

“They didn't understand what the challenges are, so it was eye opening,” said Brummett, vice president of regulatory affairs for AAHomecare. “If they can impart to CMS what those are, that might help further adoption.”

The CMS contractor, Scope Infotech, a CMS Strategic Partners Acquisition Readiness Contractor (SPARC), is expected to report back to CMS some time this year.

The No. 1 challenge to greater adoption continues to be the prescriber, says Brummett.

“It's really up to the ordering physician or hospital: Do they want to do it, and what platform do they want to use,” she said. “If I'm a provider, I can choose to use this platform, but that doesn't mean my referral sources will.”

Binson's Home Health Care Centers hasn't adopted an e-prescribing platform per se, but it uses GoScripts if its prescribers are using it, says Stephanie Legree, who participated in the meeting.

“We haven't picked anyone yet, but we like to have our pulse on what's going on,” said Legree, manager of Medicare reimbursement. “We're open and willing to evolve, as e-prescribing evolves.”

If Scope Infotech can get CMS to mandate that prescribers use e-prescribing, or offer them incentives, or even issue guidance, that would significantly advance the cause, Brummett says.

“If we come out of 2020 with any of those, that would be a win,” she said.

Another thing that would help: If CMS would make better use of the e-templates with clinical data elements (CDEs) that it has developed for various product categories, Brummett says.

“It'd be nice if CMS would issue a statement, 'If an e-prescribing platform adopts CDEs, they meet all the compliance requirements,'” she said.