Home Forums Discussions Problems MU e-prescribe counting inaccurate

Trying to do my MU Stage 2 stuff and running numbers looking for the good 90 days. Discovered that for all of January 2015 and some of February 2015 I am getting 0 "zero" as the number of scripts sent electronically. Have reported this through bug channels as "critical" after doing some verification by running by the day and by the week, etc. Clear evidence from E-Prescribing "status" that scripts were sent electronically for those days. Total downside: do I trust ANY of the MU report numbers now?

Greetings,

Quick question for you. Are you checking the Formulary with every script that you write? For meaningful use stage 2, the measure changed slightly to include formulary checking with every script. Here is how the measure reads now:

More than 50 percent of permissible prescriptions written by the EP are queried for a drug formulary and transmitted electronically using CEHRT.

This means that when you got o your script writer, you would search for the medication in the search field as normal, select the med from the list, THEN click the teal "Formulary" button in the top right before writing your sig/dispense/refill. It does not matter what the results of the formulary are ("Not Eligible" is acceptable), only that the formulary was attempted.

This is fairly easy to troubleshoot and see if that is the actual problem. simply run the MU report for "Stage 1" (which did not require formulary checking for ERX) for the same time frame and see if you have numbers for the numerator. If you do, then the formulary button is not being clicked. If not, get in contact with me privately via email (mdabeck@amazingcharts.com) and I would be happy to troubleshoot this further with you.

So that does give me numbers for the time in question and I am thinking that there was an AC upgrade that I did in mid-February or that formulary checking became available at that time? As much as it is a pain in the [censored] to add additional clicks when prescribing and renewing, I do it.

If running for Stage 1 gives you numbers and Stage 2 doesn't, then that is the lack of Formulary Checking being run for every medication. The formulary has been in the program for some time (since V6 back in 2011), but it was never required for Meaningful Use till Stage 2 came into effect.

There is a way to turn on a feature that automatically checks the formulary. This can reduce extra clicks, but I find it a bit more reassuring clicking the button manually. If you do want to turn on automatic formulary checking, open the script writer and go to "Settings" in the upper right. In the settings page the option for auto-check formulary is at the bottom.

Formula checking sounds like a SPLENDID idea --
--IF the front office has always updated the insurance accurately (which I can't count on)
--IFthe patients actually have insurance (and sometimes they have two, and then we discuss which one to use)
--IF the formulary is up to date in the database (which it isn't always)
--IF the Internet is working and not abysmally slow or just crashed (which isn't always true where we live)

How does it work in the real world? Are people actually checking formularies? Is it saving you lots of time and hassle?

We don't use AC for any billing, and don't enter any patient insurance information. Despite this, formulary checking works for us. Don't know how or why, I think it gets it's formulary information from NewCrop.