CMS issues new exemptions to electronic prescribing program

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued four new exemptions to penalties related to the E-Prescribing Incentive Program, according to a news release from the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. Eligible providers must claim exemptions before Nov. 1.

CMS released a final rule containing the changes on Aug. 31. The exemptions cover electronic prescribing activity conducted between Jan. 1 and June 30.

Eligible professionals, including ophthalmologists, who face a 1% penalty on Medicare Part B payments for not sending 10 electronic prescriptions before June 30 have 2 months to claim exemptions. Optometrists are not eligible for the e-prescribing program payment adjustment.

The new exemptions apply to eligible professionals who registered to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program and adopted certified EHR technology; those who were unable to electronically prescribe because of local, state or federal law or regulation; those who had limited prescribing activity; and those who had insufficient opportunity to report e-prescribing measures because of limitations on the measure's denominator.

Existing hardship exemptions apply to eligible professionals or group practices in rural areas with limited high-speed Internet access and those in areas with a limited number of pharmacies that can handle electronic prescribing.

Electronic prescribers are automatically exempt if their Medicare-allowed charges account for less than 10% of total allowed charges or if they had fewer than 100 eligible office encounters in the first 6 months of the 2011 reporting period, the release said.

CMS plans to release a Web-based tool for reporting exemptions, according to the release.