Stay Current And Compliant – Plan for New CMS Ruling

November 28, 2011 by Sarah Swidron

This year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its 2012 Final Rule regarding prescriber identification number validation on Medicare Part D drug claims. In it, the CMS raises concerns regarding the large number of invalid prescriber identification numbers and the possibility of prescription fraud and drug abuse.

In response, the CMS is now requiring Medicaid Part D sponsors to confirm the validity of Drug Enforcement Administration numbers on drugs listed in schedules II through V or map National Provider Identifier numbers to the prescriber’s DEA number. It also requires that sponsors confirm that the controlled substance is within the prescriber’s scope of practice to prescribe and that all identifiers are valid and active.

While the Final Rule allows for pharmacies to create their own verification system using DEA registrant files, the Social Security Administration death file, OIG and Medicaid program excluded provider lists, and the CMS National Plan & Provider Enumeration System database, it also allows for the contracting of third-party vendors to supply prescriber information and facilitate the validation process.

While the choice is left up to pharmacies as to how they meet these requirements, for many larger pharmacies, contracting with a third-party vendor will make the most sense as the number of claims these large pharmacies process coupled with the numerous databases that must be checked and maintained make creating an internal system of DEA and NPI validation inconvenient and cumbersome.

Pharmacies looking for a third-party validation partner to provide up-to-date prescriber data have been choosing Healthcare Data Solutions’ prescriber validation services. HDS’ comprehensive prescriber validation databases update DEA and NPI numbers to provide the most current and accurate prescriber validation information available, assuring pharmacies a dependable partner in Medicare Part D claims compliance.

Contact Healthcare Data Solutions today to learn more about how HDS products and services can assist with Part D compliance.

Is Your Email Marketing Mobile Ready?

September 30, 2011 by Sarah Swidron

It should be.

If it’s not, your email marketing campaign isn’t as effective as it could be. According to a recent study by David Greiner of Campaign Monitor, 1/5 of all emails are read on mobile devices. What’s more, that trend is on the rise—to the tune of 16% growth over the last two years.

Greiner’s study of over 3 billion email recipients shows that in the same time period, desktop email clients have lost 11% market share and that web-based email stayed about the same.

Where exactly have those users been going then? Predictably, they’re checking email on the iPhone, with a 71% share of the mobile email market, followed by the iPad at almost 15%. Android rounds out the top 3 with 8% of the mobile email market.

What does this mean for your email marketing campaign?

It means that if you aren’t optimizing your emails for mobile devices, you aren’t reaching about 20% of your email contacts. Sure, they may receive your email, but if you’ve failed to test your email campaign on the most popular mobile browsers, your carefully planned, well-written, visually striking marketing email isn’t having the impact that it should.

In addition, when you take into account the amount of incomplete data that resides in most data sets and the number of emails that don’t make it through spam filters, the efficacy of your email marketing campaign can (and should) easily be called into question.

If you’ve been testing your marketing emails on the most popular mobile devices, in addition to web-based and desktop clients, then you’re ahead of the game.

If not, you’re not capturing the attention of a significant (and growing) number of your most valuable customers.

Contact Healthcare Data Solutions today to learn more about how HDS’ email marketing products and services can help your healthcare marketing organization increase the efficiency of your email marketing program.