[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1910 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1910

   A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide 
     incentives to physicians for writing electronic prescriptions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 24, 2005

  Mr. Sununu introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide 
     incentives to physicians for writing electronic prescriptions.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; PURPOSE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Electronic 
Prescription Drug Act of 2005''.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide a budget 
neutral financial incentive for the rapid adoption of electronic 
prescribing under the new medicare prescription drug program.

SEC. 2. ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION INCENTIVES.

    Section 1860D-42 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-152) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Electronic Prescription Incentives.--
            ``(1) Physician payments.--For each electronic prescription 
        written by a physician during the period beginning on January 
        1, 2006, and ending on December 31, 2009, the PDP sponsor of a 
        prescription drug plan shall make a payment of an amount equal 
        to--
                    ``(A) $1.00, minus
                    ``(B) an amount equal to the percentage of total 
                claims that consist of electronic claims, as determined 
                under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3) 
                (expressed in cents).
            ``(2) Dispensing fee offset reduction.--For each non-
        electronic prescription written by a physician during the 
        period described in paragraph (1), the PDP sponsor of a 
        prescription drug plan shall reduce the dispensing fee 
        established in accordance with section 1860D-4(c)(2)(E) by an 
        amount equal to--
                    ``(A) $1.00, minus
                    ``(B) an amount equal to the percentage of total 
                claims that consist of non-electronic claims, as 
                determined under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 
                (3) (expressed in cents).
            ``(3) Data used.--
                    ``(A) Initial estimate.--Subject to the update 
                required under subparagraph (B), in determining the 
                percentage of total claims that consist of electronic 
                claims and the percentage of total claims that consist 
                of non-electronic claims, the Secretary shall use an 
                estimate of the number of electronic claims and non-
                electronic claims that will be submitted as of January 
                1, 2006.
                    ``(B) Update.--For each 6 month period beginning 
                after January 1, 2006, the Secretary shall update the 
                estimate of the number of electronic claims and non-
                electronic claims used to determine the percentage of 
                total claims that consist of electronic claims and the 
                percentage of total claims that consist of non-
                electronic claims.
        To the extent feasible, the Secretary shall use the most recent 
        data available, including real-time data on drug claims 
        submitted under this part, to determine the percentage of total 
        claims that consist of electronic claims and the percentage of 
        total claims that consist of non-electronic claims.
            ``(4) Regulations.--The Secretary shall establish 
        regulations and procedures for carrying out this subsection.''.
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