Minnesota will require EHRs by 2015
BY
Nancy
Ferris
Published on Aug. 17, 2007
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Minnesota is near the front of the pack of states pursuing health
information technology, as it begins to implement new laws requiring
e-prescribing, paperless health plan claims and eventually an interoperable
e-medical record for every Minnesotan.
As of Jan. 15, 2009, health care providers can no longer submit
any claims on paper, and eligibility checks also must be done online. The aim
of the legislation proposed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is to cut
administrative costs, not only by doing business online but also by adopting a
uniform coding and billing system. It will be the country’s first for an entire
state, according to the governor’s staff.
Meanwhile, the state has selected a single pharmacy benefits
manager to handle drug benefits for all 115,000 state employees and dependents.
It will require doctors treating employees and their families to use
e-prescribing rather than paper prescriptions by the beginning of 2011. Those
who don’t comply will face being barred from getting reimbursed for treating
those enrolled in the state employee health plan.
The moves are expected to save the state government about $5
million a year, primarily from efficiency but also from managing patients’ use
of medications.
“We are using our leverage as purchasers of health care to drive
the market,” Patricia Anderson, Minnesota state employee relations
commissioner, told the State Alliance for eHealth at its meeting this month.
She said most pharmacies are already equipped to accept
e-prescriptions from doctors, but those that are not yet online must be there
by 2009.
As for the requirement that all Minnesota doctors, hospitals and
other health care providers implement interoperable e-medical records for their
patients by the beginning of 2015, Anderson said it is in line with President
Bush’s position that Americans should have EMRs by 2014.
The legislature has appropriated $14 million to help small, rural
health care providers and safety net clinics acquire EMR systems.
The state also is engaged in several performance measurement and
quality reporting initiatives. The Minnesota eHealth Collaborative, a
public/private partnership, is working on a health information exchange
infrastructure. And the Legislature also updated the state's privacy laws in
preparation for having patients' medical records online.