Doctors offered incentive for electronic Medicare prescriptions

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced an incentive for physicians to trade in their prescription pads and improve efficiency and safety by prescribing drugs online for Medicare patients. The initiative is included in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2009. Physicians who use electronic prescribing systems to transmit prescriptions to pharmacies may earn an incentive payment of 2% of their total Medicare allowed charges during 2009.