The law is intended to combat the opioid epidemic, which kills 130 Americans each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The act authorizes CDC grants for states to improve their prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) which use electronic databases to flag suspicious patient prescribing, as well as collect public health information and enhance data sharing between states.
The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act also includes provisions for:
- Expanding the use of telehealth for the treatment of opioid use and other substance use disorders
- Electronic prescribing for controlled substances in Medicare Part D
- A study of incentive payments for behavioral health providers for adoption and use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology
- Electronic prior authorization for covered Medicare Part D drugs
"The passage and signature of this bill is an important first action in helping patients and communities affected by the drug abuse crisis. Increased access to treatment services and steps to limit the over-prescription of opioids are critical to a long-term solution," said Randy Boldyga, CEO and founder of RxNT. "Electronic prescribing will help save lives and reduce the fraud seen with paper prescriptions for controlled substances."
RxNT offers electronic prescribing, electronic health record and practice management solutions at an affordable cost to help healthcare providers improve the quality of care. The company will soon be including additional new features to its electronic prescribing solution to help better identify and prevent substance abuse disorder-related prescription fraud.
About RxNT
Since 1999, RxNT has provided award-winning and certified e-prescribing, electronic health records (EHR), and practice management and billing solutions to hospitals, physician practices and medical billing companies. The company's cost-effective, fully-integrated and cloud-based systems are designed to provide robust functionality while being easy to implement and use. For additional information, please visit RxNT.
SOURCE RxNT
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