Perhaps the one jewel that has come out of the clusterfuck that is Medicare Part D is the E1 screen. I have no idea what others call it, but every place I have worked it's been known as the E1 screen (probably because that's what CMS calls it). It is easily the most brilliant thing ever created for pharmacy use.
Now those of you outside of the business are probably goin, what the hell is he talkin' about? You've seen myself and many others in the field bitch about how patients show up with new insurance, but no cards and no idea what they have. In that case you are up shit's creek, with no paddle and, in my case, a shitload of bats are chasing you.
With the E1 screen, that is not the case. Simply input the patients Medicare number, hit submit and viola, it gives you the current prescription plan for the Medicare Part D member. Thus you do not have to hassle with the elderly who barely know their own name, yet alone which plan they are under. Sure it has it's hiccups occasionally, but its far better than nothing.
Which begs the question, why can't this be brought nationwide? Why can't BCBS or Caremark or any of the other insurances procure a similar database. Maybe it doesn't have to be connected directly to our computer system, but surely they could create some sort of secure website? Medicaid in our area has a similar setup which works wonderfully. Think of all the headaches it would save!
Then again that's the precise reason we shall never see such a system devised. Oh well, it was a good idea while it lasted.
3 comments:
I love,love,love that E1 screen. I think I would go into fits of violent rage if I didn't have that screen. Ha!
I never heard the name E1, but there's a new button in our software that says "Eligibility Check" which seems to do the same thing: you put the medicare number in the demographic screen, go back to the insurance screen, click on this button and poof, there it is. 'Swonderful.
Some of the others do in fact have this same type of thing. Medco has one at http://www.medcohealth.com/cgi-bin/prc/prc/mainframe.jsp?accessLink=CorporateWebsite . Express Scripts also has one. I wish Caremark did, but they don't... this might have something to do with their ownership by a certain chain, which sees no reason to make things easy for the competition.
(word verification "granutri"? Sounds like some kind of health bar...)
"in our software that says "Eligibility Check""
You must work at the Big Evil (Wal-mart), I had that same thing pop up recently. Including a selection of "Human, Livestock, Pet" or something or other.
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