E-Prescribing Comments On Broad Preemption Difficult To Evaluate, CMS Says
This article was originally published in The Pink Sheet Daily
Executive Summary
Industry representatives who filed comments on the e-prescribing “foundation standards” draft rule favored broader preemption than proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service, but did not specify exactly what they sought to preempt, agency advisor Kocot says.
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Incorporating industry's suggestions that e-prescribing "foundation standards" include broader federal preemption provisions will be challenging, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Senior Advisor Larry Kocot said May 24 "Many commenters favored broader preemption than we had proposed, but didn't specify exactly what they wanted to preempt," Kocot said at a Health Strategies Consultancy conference in Washington, D.C. "They just seemed to be in favor of preemption altogether," Kocot noted. "That makes it a little bit difficult to evaluate it and implement it as policy." HHS released the draft rule outlining proposed foundation standards for e-prescribing in January (1 (Also see "E-Prescribing Draft Rule Proposes Adoption Of Formulary Info Standards" - Pink Sheet, 27 Jan, 2005.)). Under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, HHS was required to propose an initial set of standards for electronic prescribing based on recommendations from the National Committee on Vital & Health Statistics by Sept. 1, 2005. In comments on the draft rule, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, National Association of Chain Drug Stores and America's Health Insurance Plans expressed concern about the standards' potentially limited preemptive effect on state regulations. PCMA said that a narrow interpretation of HHS' preemption authority is likely to create additional barriers to adoption of e-prescribing (2 (Also see "Medicare E-Prescribing Law Should Preempt State Regulations, PCMA Says" - Pink Sheet, 6 Apr, 2005.)). The final rule on e-prescribing foundation standards is targeted for release in the fall so that the standards can be implemented by the Jan. 1, 2006 start date of the Medicare drug benefit. "Comments are currently being reviewed and will be evaluated in the context of the development of the final rule," Kocot said. "Comments are being considered now and we expect the final rule will be scheduled for publication some time this fall," he said. - Lee Kalowski |