MINNEAPOLIS, January 23, 2008—An editorial in Wednesday's Star Tribune supported a bill by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., that seeks to encourage the adoption of e-prescribing nationwide.

The editorial cited Institute of Medicine statistics that paper prescription errors kill nearly 7,000 people each year, and injure about 1.5 million.

The Kerry bill would hasten the conversion to electronic prescriptions by offering grants to help pay startup costs. The Kerry measure would:

• Provide Medicare grants to offset the expense of switching to e-prescriptions.
• Require doctors to use e-prescriptions beginning Jan. 1, 2011. The bill funds a 1 percent bonus for every Medicare e-prescription issued. Providers who continue to write Rxs by hand would face a per-claim financial penalty.
• Allow DHS to grant temporary hardship waivers for rural, one-doctor shops or others hard pressed to make the switch.

The online edition of the Star Tribune included a sidebar quoting MMA President James J. Dehen Jr., M.D., on the hurdles to be overcome before e-prescribing succeeds.

"The MMA generally supports moving toward electronic medical records. We're concerned, though, about the administrative costs of reporting for carrot/stick part of the legislation,' Dehen said. 

Minnesota was a leader in the move to e-prescribing before Kerry's bill. The state will require doctors treating employees and their families to use e-prescribing rather than paper prescriptions by the beginning of 2011. Those who don’t comply will face being barred from getting reimbursed for treating those enrolled in the state employee health plan.

Co-authoring the Kerry bill in the Senate is John Ensign, R-Nev. The proposal in the House is sponsored by Reps. Allyson Schwartz, D-Penn., and Jon Porter, R-Nev.. It is also supported by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

"This is a medical advance whose time has come," the Star Tribune editorial said. "Health-care providers should move sooner rather than later toward this life-saving, more efficient method of prescribing drugs."

Star Tribune editorial

MMA article on e-prescribing