Supported by broad coalition of patient advocates and medical experts

WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) along with fellow senators John Kerry (D-MA), John Ensign (R-NV), and Mel Martinez (R-FL) led a bipartisan group of legislators today to introduce legislation which would help expedite the implementation of electronic prescribing technology in doctor’s offices throughout the country. Prescribing electronically save lives and cut costs on a massive scale by minimizing errors associated with hand written prescriptions.

According to the Institute of Medicine, 1.5 million hospital patients across the country are injured or harmed as a result of these prescription errors and at least 7,000 Americans will die in 2007 as a result. Of the more than three billion prescriptions written each year, doctors report nearly one billion require a follow-up between providers and pharmacies for clarification. The health-care system costs are in the billions.

This bill would encourage the adoption of e-prescribing by providing permanent Medicare funding for payment bonuses to physicians who acquire e-prescribing technology. In addition, for every Medicare prescription a doctor writes electronically, they will be paid an extra 1% bonus. Starting in 2011, Medicare physicians who are not electronically prescribing would face financial penalties.

This bipartisan bill is being sponsored by Senator Stabenow along with Senators Kerry (D-MA) and Ensign (R-NV) and Mel Martinez (R-FL).

"Study after study shows that e-prescribing saves dollars and more importantly saves lives,” said Sen. Stabenow. “This legislation provides doctors with the tools they need to implement this readily available technology. Michigan businesses, doctors and pharmacies have been at the forefront of implementing e-prescribing and I am proud that Michigan's success will serve as a model for national success."

“E-prescribing will save money, save time, save doctors from piles of paperwork, and most importantly, save lives,” said Sen. Kerry. “Deaths and injuries from hand-written prescriptions could be nearly eliminated if e-prescriptions were adopted on a wide scale. We need to seize this bi-partisan opportunity and make this common sense reform a reality now.”

“With this bill, we're helping to bring our healthcare system into the 21st Century in a way that will result in fewer mistakes and lower costs," said Sen. Ensign. "Doctors and medical professionals should utilize the best of today's technology to improve patient safety and advance our quality of health care. E-prescribing is an easy solution that will save lives, time and money.”

"This will put us on the track to reducing medical errors, lowering health care costs, and improving the overall quality of patient care," said Sen. Martinez. "E-prescribing opens the door to other bold initiatives including more widespread use of electronic health records for every American."

Specifically, the bill would:

1. Provide permanent Medicare funding for one-time grants to physicians to help offset the start-up costs to physicians of acquiring and implementing e-prescribing technology.
2. Provide permanent Medicare funding for payment bonuses to physicians for use of e-prescribing. For every Medicare prescription that is written electronically, physicians will be paid an extra 1% bonus.
3. Starting on Jan 1, 2011, physicians will be required to write their Medicare outpatient prescriptions electronically. Physicians that continue to write prescriptions by hand will face a per-claim financial penalty.
4. The Secretary of HHS will be given authority to grant one- or two-year hardship waivers for physicians who face particular difficulties in acquiring and implementing e-prescribing – especially those from rural areas or very small (or solo) practices
5. GAO and CMS will be directed to report within two years on the status of e-prescribing adoption within Medicare