WV Medicaid Offering Cash Incentive Program to New ePrescribers

The West Virginia Regional Health Information Technology Extension Center (WVRHITEC) announced this week that West Virginia's Medicaid Program is now offering cash incentives to health care providers who become a part of a new e-prescribing system.

WVeScript, is a new web-based ePrescribing tool implemented by the West Virginia Bureau for Medical Services (BMS) and provided to all Medicaid program prescribers and pharmacies. It is located on the BMS MediWeb Clinical Web Portal. This tool can be used to ePrescribe for all patients, not just those with Medicaid insurance. FAQs with more information about the WVeScript and MediWeb Clinical Web Portal.

The announcement by WVRHITEC also indicates that as an added incentive, West Virginia Medicaid will provide cash assistance in the amount of $1,000.00 for the purchase of a computer or to pay toward web access when a provider enrolls in the ePrescribing program at www.WVeScript.com. At the end of March 31, 2011, if a provider has electronically prescribed at least 70% of his or her prescriptions for Medicaid members, she or he will receive an additional $1,000.00. In addition, training is available, and a provider can earn two CME credits for completing the on-line web-based training. The incentives are available to a limited number of providers, so please sign up today.

West Virginia E-Prescribing Regulations

On January 4, 2008, the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy filed a Notice of Emergency Rule amending CSR 15-1, Licensure and Practice of Pharmacy, implementing the requirements of SB 1001 (See SB 69 and HB 2289) passed during the 2007 Legislative Session permitting electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) of legend drugs in West Virginia, including through the use of electronic data intermediaries.

The Board also filed on January 4, 2008, the Notice of a Comment Period on a Proposed Rule amending CSR 15-1, Licensure and Practice of Pharmacy. Comments on the Proposed Rule must be submitted before February 8, 2008.

The summary and statement of circumstances included in the notice reads:

SB 1001, passed during the First Special Session, 2007, and duly enacted into law, permits electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) of legend drugs in this State, including through the use of electronic data intermediaries as defined therein. SB 1001 contains the following directive to the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy as set forth in West Virginia Code Section 30-5-12C(d): "The board shall promulgate emergency rules pursuant to the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to implement and enforce the provisions of this section." E-prescribing is already being done by prescribers around the state, with the amount and frequency of electronic prescriptions being received by pharmacies increasing each day as the technology becomes more accepted and available in the industry. While the current rules allowed for electronic transmission of prescriptions, SB 1001 states that e-prescribing may not be done in this State until emergency rules are promulgated, and further sets additional parameters defining this growing area. As such, the e-prescribing currently being done in this State is being done without appropriate legislative rules in place to protect the integrity, privacy, security and confidentiality of the prescription orders. In addition, prescription drug diversion is an ongoing problem in this State and nation; e-prescribing done correctly is one method to combat the problem often perpetrated through passing fraudulent written prescriptions. Finally, e-prescribing aids in the accuracy of prescriptions by more timely presenting them electronically from the prescriber's office to the pharmacy in a clearly legible format, thus reducing fill-errors and facilitating patient compliance with the prescribed treatment.

Given these factors, the Legislature, through its deliberative process, has determined that an emergency exists requiring the need for emergency rules to govern the use of e-prescribing and electronic data intermediaries in this State for patients to access prescription medications in a safe and efficient manner. Therefore, in accordance with that directive, the purpose of this emergency rule is to revise existing rules governing issuance of prescription orders to set specific standards to govern e-prescribing in West Virginia, thereby protecting the public health, safety, and welfare with regard to restricted drugs which may only be obtained by patients with a proper prescription.

WV Passes (Almost) E-Prescribing Bill

The West Virginia Legislature passed (almost) SB 69 (HB 2289) allowing West Virginia to join the majority of states that allow e-prescribing. It appears that technical errors that occurred as a result of the House and Senate mistakenly passing separate versions of the bill will be cleaned up in a special session on the state budget.

For more information check out the State Journal article, E-Prescribing Soon to Be Reality in W.Va. or iHealthBeat article, West Virginia Likely to Pass E-Prescribing Bill.

Tags: eprescribing, health care, WV, West Virginia, law

NEPSI: National E-Prescribing Initiative

Over the last few months I've been involved in a project to understand the barriers to e-prescribing in West Virginia (spin off of HISPC project) and assist with developing legislation to modify current West Virginia law and reduce current restrictions on e-prescribing in West Virginia.

Today I received notice from an AHLA colleague announcing the National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative (NEPSI). I was not previously aware of the initiative. A large group of partners, including technology and health care companies, have come together to provide free electronic e-prescribing access to every U.S. physician through a web-based e-prescribing system.

I'll be interested in reading more about the initiative as it develops. For more information on the initiative check out this Google search and Google news search. iHealthBeat also has a good summary of the new initiative.

Tags: eprescribing healthcare