As of November 16, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officially removed the Part D ePrescribing Long Term Care exemption that precluded the transmitting of prescriptions electronically from Long Term Care facilities. These facilities must move to the NCPDP SCRIPT 10.6 ePrescribing standard by November 1, 2014.

The Part D ePrescribing LTC exemption 423.160(a)(3)(iv) from the *Federal Register states: “Entities transmitting prescriptions or prescription-related information where the prescriber is required by law to issue a prescription for a patient to a non-prescribing provider (such as a nursing facility) that in turn forwards the prescription to a dispenser are exempt from the requirement to use the NCPDP SCRIPT Standard adopted by this section in transmitting such prescriptions or prescription-related information.”

*Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 222, Pg. 442 / Friday, November 16, 2012 / Department of Health and Human Services / Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-11-16/pdf/2012-26900.pdf) states: “Therefore, we will amend § 423.160(a)(3)(iv) to insert November 1, 2014 as the expiration of the exemption.”

So what’s next?

• Evaluate your software and business needs for ePrescribing.
• Change can be hard. Start the discussion early with your staff and/or physicians in preparation for ePrescribing.
• Find out the ePrescribing interfaces your current software provider connects with or Contact Us and we’ll find out for you.

When implementing any ePrescribing interface, it’s important to have thorough technical documentation, great customer support, a solid ePrescribing network, strong project management, easy rollouts, in order to make the transition as easy as possible.

If you would like more information on how PrescribersConnection can help, Contact Us directly by web form or phone 855-793-9773 x6.