Medicare to pay doctors to embrace e-prescribing

Starting next month, Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, will offer financial bonuses to doctors who prescribe drugs electronically rather than on paper. Doctors who do not will face penalties from Medicare starting in 2012. This is intended to help persuade the vast majority of US doctors who do not "e-prescribe" to start, both to improve efficiency and curb medical errors. Proponents say that when a physician zaps a prescription electronically to a pharmacist rather than scribbling it on a piece of paper, it removes the possibility a patient might get the wrong drug because of a doctor's sloppy handwriting or a different medication with a similar name. And research shows that doctors using an e-prescribing system are prompted about price and are more likely to pick cheaper generics over pricier name brand drugs. The bonuses take effect just weeks before President-elect Barack Obama takes office with plans to overhaul the U.S. health care system, the world's most expensive.