The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is continuing to nudge doctors toward e-prescribing with the announcement Thursday of an initiative that offers them a boost of 5.1 percent in pay for going digital.

The bonus applies when prescribing for patients with Medicare.

Physicians and other eligible professionals who adopt and use qualified e-prescribing systems to transmit prescriptions to pharmacies may earn an incentive payment of 2 percent of their total Medicare allowed charges during 2009.

The incentive is in addition to a 2 percent incentive payment for 2009 for physicians who successfully report measures under the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), and both incentive payments are in addition to the 1.1 percent fee schedule update required by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, which adds up to a 5.1 percent boost.

"E-prescribing can greatly reduce the number of medication errors that jeopardize the health and safety of Medicare patients and waste precious healthcare dollars treating conditions that never should have happened," said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. "The Institute of Medicine says more than 1.5 million Americans are injured every year by drug errors.  E-prescribing lets providers know - up front - their patients' medication history and the risk of dangerous interactions."