OmniMD Achieves EHNAC e-Prescribing of Controlled Substances Certificate for Prescribing Applications

Certification ensures adherence to data processing standards and compliance with security infrastructure and integrity requirements for all e-Prescribing transactions

Tarrytown, NY – December 16, 2013 – OmniMD, a healthcare solution of Integrated Systems Management, Inc. announced today that it has been certified with the e-Prescribing of Controlled Substances Certificate Program for Prescribing Applications (EPCSCP-Prescribing) from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC). EHNAC’s program demonstrates the operational integrity of companies that use e-prescribing, by affirming compliance with industry regulations and all necessary standards for transaction timeliness, security and privacy with new prescriptions and renewals. Through the consultative review process, EHNAC evaluated OmniMD’s electronic prescribing and fax-based prescribing transactions in the areas of confidentiality enforcement, level-of-service and escalation procedures, outcome-related metrics, security infrastructures and the ability to comply with industry-standard data formats. The thorough certification process demonstrates compliance with stringent DEA regulations and adherence to strict standards and participation in the comprehensive, objective evaluation of the organization’s business. 

“The growth of e-prescribing in recent years has reached a strong uptick not only due to meaningful use measures, but because of the industry’s critical need for advancement of care and transitioning to electronic health records and processes,” says Lee Barrett, executive director of EHNAC. “Privacy, security and confidentiality continue to top the list of concerns for solution providers and their customers. OmniMD’s EHNAC EPCSCP-Prescribing certification is a significant achievement in ensuring full confidence in the integrity of their e-prescribing system and processes, and we are pleased to congratulate them.”

OmniMD is a comprehensive Ambulatory Electronic Health Record, Revenue Cycle Management and Health Information Exchange solution serving all the states of United States.  OmniMD’s ePrescribing is a Surescript’s White Coat Quality certified solution. With the EHNAC EPCSCP accreditation, OmniMD will be able to enable physicians electronically prescribe controlled substance with all the safety measures in place.

“EHNAC’s thorough accreditation process prompted us to risk assess administrative, physical, procedural and technological aspects of our organization and implement the required safeguards.  This accreditation is important not only for EPCS program but to be on top of HIPAA and HITECH regulations providing patient safety, security and privacy of the information.” quoted Divan Dave,CEO at OmniMD.

About OmniMD

OmniMD (a division of Integrated Systems Management, Inc.) is a national electronic health record software company with thousands of providers in more than 40 states and five countries. OmniMD’s emr software is cloud based and represents state of the art solution in the medical software industry. The Tarrytown, N.Y.-based company has 120 programmers and 15 physicians on staff who work to make the product excellent surpassing the industry requirements

About EHNAC

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) is a voluntary, self-governing standards development organization (SDO) established to develop standard criteria and accredit organizations that electronically exchange healthcare data. These entities include e-prescribing and EPCS solution providers, electronic health networks, financial services firms, health information exchanges, health information service providers, medical billers, third-party administrators, management service organizations, outsourced service providers, payers and vendors.

EHNAC was founded in 1993 and is a tax-exempt 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization. Guided by peer evaluation, the EHNAC accreditation process promotes quality service, innovation, cooperation and open competition in healthcare. To learn more, visit www.ehnac.org, contact info@ehnac.org, or connect with us on Twitter, YouTubeand LinkedIn.

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Pharmacy Groups Call for DEA To Clarify New Rule on E-Prescribing

Four pharmacy organizations say they support the Drug Enforcement Administration’s efforts to allow electronic prescribing of controlled substances but called for further clarification on the new e-prescribing rule, Modern Healthcare reports.

On March 31, DEA published in the Federal Register its interim final rule on e-prescribing of controlled substances. According to DEA public affairs officer Barbara Carreno, the rule took effect June 1.

NCPA Letter

On Tuesday, the National Community Pharmacists Association sent a letter to DEA offering to provide guidance on a requirement for digital signatures on e-prescriptions.

NCPA also asked the agency to allow nurses to act as liaisons between long-term care facilities and pharmacies because most long-term care centers do not employ full-time physicians.

Letter From Four Groups

In another letter, four pharmacy groups asked DEA to clarify:

• The steps that prescribers must take to account for changes in e-prescriptions;
• The responsibilities associated with digital signatures;
• Work flow procedures in long-term care facilities; and
• E-prescribing options for emergency situations.

The groups also requested that third-party audits occur less frequently and that pharmacies be allowed more time to respond to security concerns identified in internal audits.

The letter’s signatories were the:

• American Pharmacists Association;
• American Society of Consultant Pharmacists;
• American Society of Health-System Pharmacists; and
• NCPA (Robeznieks, Modern Healthcare, 6/3).
• Emdeon Makes Recommendations

In a comment letter on the interim final rule, software and service vendor Emdeon Business Services noted that it will take time to add a new field to e-prescribing transactions to indicate that a prescription has been digitally signed.

As an interim solution, Emdeon recommends placing the signature indicator inside an XML “envelope” or “wrapper” in the header of the prescription.

Emdeon also offered recommendations about archiving, altering content and verifying eligibility (Goedert, Health Data Management, 6/1).

Source: http://www.eprescriptionservices.com/pharmacy-groups-call-for-dea-to-clarify-new-rule-on-e-prescribing/

MIPPA Provides Incentives for E-Prescribing

By Rich Silverman

American health care providers write close to 3 billion prescriptions per year, according to a number of estimates, with about 80% of them being written by hand. A recent study conducted by the Weill Cornell Medical School in New York found that about 4 of every 10 handwritten prescriptions had an error while the rate of errors found in electronic prescriptions is around one-seventh of that, or about 6%.

If those numbers hold true, then almost 1 billion prescriptions each year have an error in them. Small wonder, then, that the government has enacted legislation to encourage providers to switch to electronic prescribing.

Amid the sea of health technology acronyms like HIPAA, HITECH, HIT and EMR floats one we’ve not addressed so far – MIPPA, the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (we’re really not making this one up). The act contains provisions relating to a host of issues such as physician quality reporting, physician payments and – the one we’re addressing here – electronic prescribing.

Structured with incentives to encourage physicians to adopt electronic prescribing, MIPPA provides for payments of up to 2% of qualifying Medicare billings during 2010 by using a qualified e-prescribing or Electronic Health Record system that meets all of the following requirements:

* Generates a complete active medication list
* Selects medications, prints and electronically transmits prescriptions and conducts all alerts
* Recommends available alternatives that are less expensive and therapeutically appropriate
* Provides information on tiered formulary medications, eligibility and insurance authorization
* Meets specified software technical requirements

Incentives will continue at up to 2% through 2010, drop to 1% in 2011 and 2012, and .5% in 2013. Beginning as early as 2012, penalties for NOT using e-prescribing can and will be assessed by Medicare, rising to as high as a 2% reduction in payments.

As with all government programs, there is a host of fine print to wade through, and there are multiple ifs and ands to deal with, but the overall program does provide incentives to you to adopt electronic prescribing. To help you navigate all that verbiage, HHS has created a comprehensive FAQ section on its website.

If you expect to qualify for incentive payments offered by the government for the adoption of an EMR/EHR system, you will need to be engaged in e-prescribing, because e-prescribing will be an integral part of the definition of meaningful use. And grumble all you want about how that implementation of an e-Prescribing system may require work up front, but the benefits that will accrue to you down the line, such as reduced errors and far fewer phone calls using up your staff time to resolve prescribing problems, will more than make up for it.

http://www.eprescriptionservices.com/mippa-incentives-eprescribing/

DEA issues interim e-prescribing rule

By Joseph Conn

The Drug Enforcement Administration has issued an interim final rule regulating electronic prescribing of controlled substances.

The 334-page rule also contains a request for comments. The rule affords prescribers the option of writing e-prescriptions for controlled drugs and also applies to pharmacies and hospitals.

According to a summary of the rule, it will “reduce paperwork for DEA registrants who dispense controlled substances and have the potential to reduce prescription forgery.”

“The regulations will also have the potential to reduce the number of prescription errors caused by illegible handwriting and misunderstood oral prescriptions,” according to the summary. “Moreover, they will help both pharmacies and hospitals to integrate prescription records into other medical records.”

The effective date of the rule is 60 days from its March 31 publication in the Federal Register, but as a “major rule,” it is subject to congressional review and, consequently, its effective date could be adjusted.

Above article publish on http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100325/NEWS/100329985/1134

E-prescribing gains momentum in Europe

There is increasing acceptance of e-prescribing in Europe and system sales should more than triple in the next six years, according to a report on the technology by market research firm Frost & Sullivan.

According to the analysis, the European market for e-prescription systems, including integrated and stand-alone e-prescription systems, was worth $95.4 million in 2008 and should reach $449.7 million by 2015.

“Having experienced tremendous growth in the United States, e-prescription is on course to be accepted by the healthcare system in Europe,” notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Jayapradha T. E. “With an increase in the acceptance of integrated healthcare solutions, government initiatives and the need to reduce medical errors caused by paper prescriptions, the e-prescription market is expected to carve a niche for itself in the global healthcare arena.”

The drive to ensure greater mobility for patients and health professionals has resulted in attempts to modernize healthcare IT systems, which requires the effective integration of economic, organizational and clinical information across the healthcare spectrum.

“The drive towards enhanced healthcare mobility, reduced costs and improved efficiency, paralleled by an emphasis on patient safety and service quality, is having a direct positive impact on the e-prescription systems market in Europe,” Jayapradha said.

According to the Jayapradha, prescriber resistance to e-prescription technology still needs to be overcome. In addition, there is a dearth of empirical evidence demonstrating the advantages of e-prescription. Prescribers also seem to believe that they need a substantial amount of training to use e-prescription technology—training that will take up a considerable amount of their time.

“Good change management and stakeholder engagement are vital to overcoming the reluctance of health professionals to shift from paper-based to electronic-based prescriptions,” Jayapradha noted. “There is also a need for more empirical data through research to prove the benefits reaped by existing users of e-prescription.”

Above article publish on http://www.eprescriptionservices.com/eprescribing-gains-momentum-europe/