Push for Medicare e-prescribing.

A coalition of 22 health, business, and consumer organizations has asked Congress to pass legislation requiring physicians who see Medicare patients to adopt electronic prescribing by the year 2010. "Last year, the Institute of Medicine estimated that preventable medication errors harm an estimated 1.5 million Americans each year," said a letter from the coalition, which includes Aetna Inc., Consumers Union, the Corporate Health Care Coalition, and the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, to leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "In the report, the IOM called on all physicians to adopt electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) by 2010 to address this problem. Unfortunately, fewer than 1 in 10 physicians are meeting this challenge." The coalition has urged Congress to approve legislation this year calling for full physician adoption of e-prescribing in Medicare.