Did you know experts estimate that there are at least 1.5 million adverse drug events per year in the U.S.? Or that at least one-quarter of medication errors are believed to be preventable? Or that on average, hospital patients are subject to at least one medication error per day? Or that, at their most conservative estimates, experts projected 530,000 preventable adverse drug events among outpatient Medicare patients alone in 2003, excluding direct patient contact? These statistics from the 2006 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, entitled, Preventing Medication Errors: Quality Chasm Series, highlight the grave need to reduce preventable medication errors and adverse drug events.

We’ve known medication errors to be a problem since at least the publication of the IOM report five years ago. In fact, some of the data cited in the IOM report are from studies published as early as 1995. So why are we still struggling to adopt proven methods of reducing these preventable harms?

One of these proven methods that reduces medication errors is e-prescribing. Congress has attempted to incentivize practitioners to adopt e-prescribing as part of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. For those who used e-prescribing systems to generate and transmit electronic prescriptions in 2009 and 2010, there was a 2 percent bonus for Medicare providers. Not a lot of money to be sure, but enough to more than justify the expense of an e-prescribing system. The bonus begins to phase out in 2011, so those who e-prescribe in 2011 will receive a 1 percent incentive payment. Less money than before, but still more than enough to cover the cost of an e-prescribing system.

So if 1 and 2 percent bonus payments aren’t enough to incentivize clinicians, what will be? How about an upcoming 1 percent Medicare penalty in 2012 for those who do not e-prescribe. Yes, if you are not e-prescribing in 2012, your Medicare payments for an entire year will be docked 1 percent. It’s fairly simple to qualify: clinicians must generate and transmit at least 10 e-prescriptions at the time of an office visit. However, the kicker is you must do this before June 30, 2011. June 30th is very, very soon, so it’s important you get started right away if you don’t want to be subject to the Medicare penalty.

For those of you who do not yet have an e-prescribing system in your office, I encourage you to visit www.cardiosource.org/healthit for recommendations on what to look for in an e-prescribing system and other resources available to ACC members. For those of you who do have an e-prescribing system in your office but are unfamiliar with the Medicare E-Prescribing Incentive Program, you will also find resources on www.cardiosource.org/healthit. Also, I encourage you to check back here on the ACC in Touch blog for the next 5 weeks to hear more about e-prescribing from the perspectives of our colleagues practicing in a variety of settings.

The ACC wants to hear from you about e-prescribing! Are you participating in the program? If so, what do you think of it?