Apply for an ePrescribing penalty exemption by Nov. 1

If you were unable to issue and report at least 10 electronic scripts (e-scripts) during the first six months of 2011, you can apply for a hardship exemption by Nov. 1 to avoid the Medicare ePrescribing program's monetary penalties in 2012.

The 1 percent reduction of total 2012 Medicare payments will apply to all eligible physicians who did not successfully meet the program's requirements earlier this year unless they apply for and receive a hardship exemption. In response to the AMA's request for greater flexibility, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided six exemption categories. Physicians can apply for an exemption if:

• Their practice is located in a rural area without high-speed Internet access.
• Their practice is located in an area without sufficient available pharmacies for ePrescribing.
• They are registered to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive program and they adopted certified EHR technology by Oct. 1, prior to requesting an exemption.
• They are unable to ePrescribe because of local, state or federal laws or regulations. (CMS clarified that physicians who mainly prescribe narcotics but cannot submit these prescriptions electronically because of certain limitations can apply for this exemption category.)
• They do not prescribe on a regular basis.
• There were too few opportunities for them to report the ePrescribing measure because of limitations of the measure's denominator. For example, they do prescribe electronically but their e-scripts are not related to qualifying visits or services.

Learn more about the program's reporting requirements and exemption categories. Also, view a free archived webinar from the AMA to find out how to apply for a hardship exemption to avoid the 2012 penalty.

If you have difficulty accessing the online application, emailQualityNet, which runs the portal for CMS.