WASHINGTON, July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) released the following statement on Senate passage of the Medicare bill, which includes a provision that requires physicians to use electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) in Medicare:

"The inclusion of an e-prescribing requirement in Medicare is a major victory for America's seniors. From a patient's perspective, e-prescribing is the most important issue in the Medicare bill because it saves lives and saves money. This is a historic step forward for e-prescribing as the new requirement in Medicare will now lead to broader adoption of overall health care information technology.

"We are also pleased that both the effective date of the AMP payment cut as well as the date for publication of AMP data have been delayed until September 2009.

"However, PCMA continues to oppose other special interest provisions which would pay independent pharmacists twice as fast as all other Medicare providers. This will increase costs and provide no added benefit for seniors."

PCMA is the national association representing America's pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which administer prescription drug plans for more than 210 million Americans with health coverage provided through Fortune 500 employers, health insurance plans, labor unions, and Medicare Part D.

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Source: Pharmaceutical Care Management Association

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