据波士顿报道——随着电子处方强制医疗保险第一阶段在一月推行以来，由卫生与人类服务部长Michael Leavitt领导的医疗保健IT领导者们于周二会聚于波士顿启动这一项目。

Leavitt在国家电子处方会议上说，“该系统的一大优势就是它将会减少医疗差错以及不良结果。”

“我们知道它可以拯救生命，也可以节约成本，现在是时候实施它了。”

Leavitt将国家目前的经济危机与医疗保健成本的增加联系起来，并指出处方电子化有利于为患者、医生以及整个医疗保健系统节约成本。

他说，“它在国内经济中是势在必行的。”

医疗保险与医疗救助服务中心将于一月开始其为期五年的项目，为采用电子处方的合格专业人员提供激励回报。这些回报相当于医生所允许医疗保险收费的2%。

这一项目包括对那些不转换纸质系统医生的惩罚措施——自2012年起其所允许医疗保险收费的1%，自2014年则提高至2%。

患者及提供者医疗保险改善2008法案设立了一项五年项目，为“成功实施电子处方”的合格专业人员提供激励回报。

根据医学院，每年有超过150万美国人因药品差错而受伤，预计会造成7000例死亡。其他研究显示，药剂师每年需要拨打1.5亿个电话给医生来澄清不合理的处方。

Leavitt表示，医疗保险有望在接下来的五年内通过预防53万例不良药品事件来节约1.56亿美元。

为期两天的国家电子处方会议由CMS组织，并在波士顿召开。Leavitt在此会议的第二天做出评论。参与此次会议的医疗保健IT领导者包括：CMS的执行管理者Kerry Weems、参议员John Kerry、医疗转换中心创始者Newt Gingrich、医疗革新合伙公司创始者兼主席及医疗信息技术前国家协调员David Brailer（医学博士）。

Healthcare IT leaders kick off government's e-prescribing drive

By Bernie Monegain, Editor

2008年10月7日 星期二

BOSTON - With the first phase of Medicare's mandate for e-prescribing rolling out in January, healthcare IT leaders, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, gathered Tuesday in Boston to jumpstart the initiative.

"One of the beauties of the system is that it will reduce the number of medical mistakes ... and tragic results," Leavitt said at the National E-prescribing Conference.

"We know it saves lives, we know it saves money, and it's time to implement it."

Leavitt tied the nation's current economic crisis to the rising costs of healthcare and noted that going electronic with prescriptions helps provide cost-savings for patients, doctors and the entire healthcare system.

"It's an economic imperative in this country," he said.

In January, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will begin its five-year program providing incentive payments to eligible professionals who adopt e-prescribing. The payments will be equal to 2 percent of the physicians' Medicare-allowed charges.

The program includes penalties for those who do not make the switch from paper - 1 percent of their Medicare-allowed charges beginning in 2012 and 2 percent beginning in 2014.

The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 established the five-year program of incentive payments to eligible professionals who are "successful electronic prescribers."

According to the Institute of Medicine, more than 1.5 million Americans are injured each year by drug errors, causing an estimated 7,000 deaths. Other studies show that pharmacists make more than 150 million phone calls a year to clarify illegible prescriptions with doctors.

Medicare is expected to save up to $156 million over five years by preventing some 530,000 adverse drug events, Leavitt said.

Leavitt delivered his comments at the second day of a two-day National E-Prescribing Conference organized by CMS in Boston. Among the healthcare IT leaders in attendance were Kerry Weems, acting administrator of the CMS; Sen. John Kerry, (D-Mass.); Newt Gingrich, founder of the Center for Health Transformation; and David Brailer, MD, founder and chairman of Health Evolution Partners and the  former national coordinator for healthcare information technology.