Turn Your Treo into a BlackBerry

Many people ask me if they should purchase a BlackBerry in order to receive their e-mail automatically, or to be able to check it whenever and wherever they want. Fortunately, this is pretty easy to set up on a Treo using a free e-mail forwarding service throught fastmail.fm That way, you can continue to use all the great medical programs (which you won't be able to do on a BlackBerry). To read about doing this, click here

AMA President Describes Details of e-Prescribing Bonus

AMA President, Nancy H. Nielsen details how you can increase your Medicare payments by as much as 5% in the coming year by combining e-prescribing with PQRI and the recent small increase in the recently passed "Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act." Click here to read more.

E-Prescribing Conference

CMS is sponsoring a free conference on October 6-7, 2008 to inform physicians about the new e-prescribing incentives being offered by Medicare.

Topics will include:

• Equip health care professionals with the knowledge and tools to integrate e-prescribing into their business and business model;
• Generate discussion about using e-prescribing and other e-health initiatives to increase patient compliance and overall improved health outcomes;
• Educate health care professionals about the structure and the Agency's plans for implementation of the incentive payment system in regard to e-prescribing and PQRI;
• Identify and promote opportunities to overcome barriers to adopt this new technology; and,
• Address constituent concerns about privacy, security and risk management in regard to the implementation of this new provision.

New Incentives for e-Prescribing Announced by HHS

Medicare to Reimburse Doctors Extra for Electronic Prescriptions

Beginning in January, Medicare will provide incentive payments to physicians who send prescriptions to pharmacies electronically. Benefits of "e-prescribing" include the potential for fewer drug errors and lower administrative costs, according to Health and Human Services officials.

For the first 2 years of the program, physicians who use the technology will receive a 2% increase in Medicare reimbursement rates. The incentive will be 1% during the following 2 years, and 0.5% in 2013.

However, physicians who do not use electronic prescribing by 2012 could see a 1% reduction in Medicare reimbursement rates. That penalty would increase to 2% by 2014, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reports that it costs roughly $3000 per physician to set up the necessary software and equipment.

Health and Human Services press release (Free)

Associated Press story (Free)

Epocrates Rx Now Available for iPhones

Epocrates has announced that their excellent drug reference software is now available for iPhones. Previously, Epocrates could only be used wirelessly, but it is now available as an application for iPhones.

Palm Treo 800w Review

This looks like a solid device for medical practice. It has great memory capacity, good screen size, and can run Windows mobile apps, as well as Palm apps (using Styletap).

iPhone 3G Review

The new iPhone 3G phone is creating quite a "buzz" among gadget folks. I still stand by my recommendation that this is still not the best type of device for doctors. However, new applications that are being developed may change my opinion in the coming year. Also, Styletap is rumored to have an iPhone emulator in the works that would run all Palm applications (they have already done this for Windows devices). Until then, you may want to check out the Treo 800W (reviewed above) if you're in the market for the latest smartphone in your practice.