Prescription mistakes are not lower with electronic prescribing systems, according to a new study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Information Association July 3. About 11.7% of 3,850 e-prescriptions analyzed in the 2008 data contained an error, and 4% of these were significant enough to cause a "serious adverse event." Examples include missing drug doses, durations and frequency.

HHS rolled out new financial and patient driven initiatives to aid states’ Medicare and Medicaid programs aimed at lowering costs and boosting quality care during a July 8 conference call.

You had until June 30, 2011 to e-prescribe at least 10 times and report G8553 to show CMS you were e-prescribing successfully. Now that June 30 has come and gone, many of your peers who didn't meet the requirement are betting that CMS will finalize its proposed rule adding four new hardship exemptions for e-prescribing, so they can avoid the 1% payment penalty in 2012. But there is a plan B just in case the proposed hardship exemptions don't materialize.

We're deep into the pages of the proposed 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and still haven't seen light at the end of the tunnel, but one thing is clear already: weighing in at 621 pages, this is one slim tome compared to the 2011 proposed fee schedule. The 2011 edition was 1,250 pages, which means this year's version is less than half the length, or 49.6% if you want to be precise. TIP: Read our initial fee schedule findings here, if you haven't already. The biggest reason for the big difference in size has to be the health reform law, which required CMS to start turning legislation into actual rulemaking.

CMS unassigned specialty code “95” from indicating advanced diagnostic imaging accreditation and designated the code as “open” starting April 1, according to CMS Transmittal 2248 released June 24. NOTE: PECOS will no longer recognize specialty code 95.