| Sequel Systems Urges Hospital-Based and Managed Services
Organizations to Adopt E-Prescribing Procedures |
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| Electronic Health Records Reduce Medical Errors, Increase Medicare Reimbursements |
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| Melville, NY (May 21, 2009) — Sequel Systems says the Electronic Prescribe (E-Prescribe) program, in
which paper-based health records would be converted to electronic health records (EHRs), would be
beneficial to hospital-based and managed services organizations. This not only reduces medical errors
made in the reading of written prescriptions — which results in increased liability — but also offers
financial incentives by receiving increases in Medicare reimbursements to those organizations that adopt
the program. |
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| An Institute of Medicine report showed that 100,000 people die each year from medical errors in hospitals,
and mo re than 1.5 million people are injured. As a result, these medical errors have cost U.S. taxpayers
$17-$29 billion annually. E-Prescriptions improve quality safety and quality of care, reduce the amount of
time spent communicating back and forth with pharmacies, provide more accuracy and efficiency and
reduce health care costs by preventing adverse drug events and substituting generics or less expensive
medications for brand-name drugs. |
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| On February 17, President Barack Obama signed the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA) into law that qualifies hospitals and physicians for $17 billion worth of incentive payments from
Medicaid and Medicare over a five-year period. Under ARRA’s Health Information Technology for
Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, each physician is eligible for $40,000-$60,000, providing
they can prove “meaningful use” of an EHR. A draft outline of such “meaningful use” standards is
expected to be released by the Secretary of Health and Human Services on June 1. |
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| While the exact definition of “meaningful use” has yet to be determined, the legislation outlines three
criteria for EHRs: it must include e-prescribing, it must provide electronic exchange of health information
and it must allow submission of clinical quality measures. |
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| “We support the president’s plan to have all medical records digitized,” said Irfan Iqbal, Director of
Medical Informatics, Sequel Systems. “The grant money, along with the increased reimbursements, should
provide enough financial incentives for hospitals and medical service groups to make the conversion to
EHRs.” |
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| The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) defines e-prescribing as “a prescriber’s ability to
electronically send an accurate, error-free and understandable prescription directly to a pharmacy from the
point-of-care,” and calls it “an important element in improving the quality of patient care.” On April 7,
2008, the CMS adopted “Standards for E-Prescribing Under Medicare Part D” and the Medicare
Prescription Drug Program. |
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| Physicians who switch to EHRs by the end of 2009 will receive $18,000 a year in Medicaid incentives
starting in 2011. If they start using EHRs in 2011, they can receive a total of $44,000. While physicians
have five years to make the transition to EHRs, the financial incentives decrease each year. Those who do
not use EHRs by 2015 will be penalized. |
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| “We encourage all doctors to take advantage of the E-prescribe program as soon as possible,” Mr. Iqbal
said. “This innovative program provides financial incentives for these doctors, and greatly reduces the
number of injuries and deaths that are caused by medical errors because of written prescriptions that are
illegible or inaccurate. This also means a reduction in liability on the hospital’s part. Because these
prescriptions are filled out electronically, the patient no longer has to wait to pick up their medications,
saving the patient time at the check-out counter.” |
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| For more information, please contact Irfan Iqbal, Director of Medical Informatics at iiqbal@sequelmed.com or 631.694.3600. |