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"My second attempt to Medco failed. Too bad. Some type of error message but I didnt have time to dig into it just then"

Wayne, we had a problem with Medco in the beginning. They have more than one listing. Are you using the one "Medco fax only?" The address is in Columbus, OH.
This should be the correct one. If you are new to this ERx, they will still ask you to fax a couple with your signature and date on them, to confirm.
The other element is if the addresses, names etc don't match exactly, they cause errors as well.

So it sounds like V5 may actually facilitate successful, practical e-prescribing. As someone who will probably not be ready to use V5 for a while, I am trying to ensure that I still have a shot at getting the 2% incentive from Medicare. My reading is that one only has to send 25 e-prescriptions in each quarter of 2010 to get the 2%. (I.e. there is no "denominator" or percentage of scripts that must be done that way, just a flat number). Is that correct? Do I need to be sure to send 25 by March 21?
Also, has anyone here actually received the incentive in '08 or '09, or is this just a myth?

Once a version or 2 more come out with bug fixes and corrections I think you should just go to Version 5 - you can not use any of the features except e prescribing - orders are better and the program is better. He still has a few errors/bugs and I think those will go away soon and everyone should make the jump.

Once you have e prescribing working you will LOVE it. It is light years ahead of old New Crop and other than a few idiosyncracies it works good.

I think places like Medco make it difficult to send to them because they don't want it (due to cost) - otherwise it is great. Once Jon and his crew get the refills thing working right it will be great.

Are we supposed to be submitting a code (cpt) to medicare when we generate an e-prescribe.

I thought that there was additional reimbursement from medicare for e prescribing and using a cchit product.

How will medicare know andi what do I need to do ?

Thanks

Hi,
I have a couple questions about eRX. I have been using it for about a week, and so far, only a couple of problems.
However, I have a question/request...What happened to the calculator? I used that to do my pediatric calculations, I and I cant seem to find it on the prescription portion of this new version.

I received the QA bonus from my 2007 participation in the Quality Improvement incentive (had to submit indicators for 25 consecutive diabetics). I submitted the info in December 2007 and got paid in June 2009.

Here's the info . Basically you have to submit at least one prescription by eRx, using a certified EMR (version 5 of AC meets the criteria), during a patient encounter, for 25 patients. Medicare finds out when you add a "G code" to the encounter that indicates that an eRx was transmitted as part of the patient encounter.

The eRx incentive payment equal to 2% of your "total estimated Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) allowed charges for covered professional services".

No credit for those zillions of eRxs to refill scripts from incoming faxes and telephone calls.

John,

Thanks for the info, but what "G code " do we need to submit?

I didn't see one on your link, but I did find the following:

If ALL of the prescriptions generated for this patient during this visit were sent via a qualified e-prescribing system: REPORT G8443
• If NO prescriptions were generated for this patient during this visit: REPORT G8445
• If SOME or ALL of the prescriptions generated for this patient during this visit were printed or phoned in as required by state or federal law or regulations, due to patient request, or due to the pharmacy system being unable to receive electronic transmission; OR because they were for narcotics or other controlled substances: REPORT G8446

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ERxIncentive/Downloads/erxincentivemadesimpleprogram040109.pdf

Does this make sense?
Thanks

Yes, it was the one that said Medco fax only.

John,
So does that mean that if you only do an eRx on 25 patients in all of 2010 (and submit the proper code) then you get a bonus of 2% on the entire year's Medicare payment? I thought I saw somewhere that there was a quarterly requirement, but I might be wrong.

Lighthouse, you can also get to the calculator by going to Start (menu) > All Programs > Accessories > Calculator. Or, Start > Run: type in "calc", press enter.

No, those are the G codes for the 2009 eRx incentive, which ended 12/31/09. The 2010 "G code" is G8553 "At least one prescription created during the encounter was generated and transmitted electronically using a qualified eRx system".

Details of how to file an encounter with this G code are in this pdf .

Correct, 25 eRx's during a patient encounter in all of 2010 (should be pretty easy to do with AC version 5).

The exact language is:
This document can be downloaded from this page . Go to the "Downloads" section at the bottom and download "2010 eRx Measure Specifications and Release Notes [ZIP 79KB]". Then unzip the downloaded file and review the "2010 eRx_Measure_Specification_111309.pdf" file in the resulting folder.

Comment: Why is it so difficult to get coherent information from CMS about these incentives? One has to search through several obtusely-named files and links, some PDFs, some zipped folders. Documents are full of disclaimers and other legalese. About as user-unfriendly as possible. Intentional perhaps?

Comment: Why is it so difficult to get coherent information from CMS about these incentives? One has to search through several obtusely-named files and links, some PDFs, some zipped folders. Documents are full of disclaimers and other legalese. About as user-unfriendly as possible. Intentional perhaps?
_________________________
John

Coherent + CMS = OXYMORON

I can't seem to be able to pull up the G8553 code under the Quick picks tab or in the search tab in the billing section. I would like to add it as a choice in the quick picks cpt code section. Am I missing the boat here? Where are people adding it?

Also, where do you put in HCPCS codes (A4564 - arm sling)in the billing sections...again does not pull up in the code search section?

Went live with both AC and eprescribing this week...loving both...but still waiting for the first electronic refill.

Also, a little tip that I accidently found today...hit CTRL-P while on the AC message or schedule screen and it automatically brings up the NewCrop Admin page.

Does anyone have a url for a physician portal to NewCrop? Sending scripts is working well, but I have no way of accessing refill requests. I can't open every chart every day to see who's requested a refill. NewCrop's customer service line was out of commission when I tried to call them.

My method to check refill requests:

1. Click on the "Electronic Prescribing" menu item under "Online Services" on the top of every AC window (as DocB mentioned above, Ctrl-P is the keyboard shortcut).
2. The NewCrop Admin window opens, displaying the Pharmacy Renewal Requests with a list of patient names. If blank, you have no refill requests.
3. Make note of the first patient's name, then close the NewCrop window and return to AC.
4. Find the patient by using the Patient List search box.
5. Right-click on the patient name and choose "Medications & ePrescribing" from the drop-down list.
6. The prescription writer window opens. From the "ePrescribing" item at the top left of this window, choose "Manage via NewCrop screens".
7. The NewCrop "Compose Rx" window opens with the patient' med list. At the top of this window is a line of text, for example "Pharm: 2, Fax: 0, Pend: 0". If "Pharm: #" is in red, then there are refill requests waiting. Click on this text.
8. The NewCrop window switches to "Admin" (same screen as step 2, but the patient name is now displayed at top left, just over the list). Click on the patient's name (in the list of patients -- it is in blue text).
9. The window changes to "Select Pt. prior to Accept or Deny". Click the patient's name (yes, again).
10. The window changes to "Confirm pharmacy request and renewal match!!!" (I love the triple exclamation marks, very professional). Fill in the Refills on the right side, and click the red "Accept" box. The window changes to confirm the renewal.
11. Click on the "Pharm:" etc. line of text at the top of this window and note the name of the next patient. Start back at step 3 above until there are no patient names in the Pharmacy Renewal Requests list.

Click 10-11 times for every renewal. Confusing, crowded and non-intuitive windows. Good job, NewCrop.

Ryanjo,

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I now understand people calling this program New Crap. I used OnCallData for my e-prescribing up till now and it is a joy to use. I only switched to eliminate the double entry. All I can say is NewCrop must have made Jonathan an offer he couldn't refuse.

The lead programmer at AC is working on a method where refill requests will be easier - hopes to have it working soon. His issue is that Surescrips requires you to open each patient's chart and examine all of their meds and allergies before refilling something. This requires you to look at more than the one request you receive. He envsions some method that notifies you have a refill - like an e-mail with pt. name attached - you click it and do refills and then save to chart.

I think they will accomplish this, but it is frustrating when something that to you and I seems easy to fix and instead is cumbersome.

Couldn't you just deny the refill request that comes into NewCrop and send a "new" prescription from the AC chart? My eprescribe doesn't show me any renewal requests right now, we are still getting faxes renewal requests. I pinging support last week and they were going to contact NewCrop and see why I wasn't recieving electronic renewal requests.... after reading those posts I'm thinking that maybe I don't want electronic renewal requests.

Quick update on adding the medicare e-prescribe code...when in the CPT search box select the edit codes button on the top left...add new code...and put in the G8553. Now you can add it to the quick-picks tab on the billing page. I named it "$$$ E-prescribe" and the $ sign puts the code at the very top of the list. Gee, now with that 1% bonus the pay cut is only 21%...such a smaller cliff!