The Medicare conference report will provide more flexibility for providers to implement electronic prescribing, stepping back from a 2007 mandatory deadline, Ways and Means health subcommittee chair Nancy Johnson (R-CT) said Sept. 4.
"The final bill will not be as rigid as the House bill in its mandatory-ness. I'm not sure exactly how," Johnson said a symposium by the Institute for Molecular Technologies. "I'm the strongest proponent of mandatory electronic prescribing and I'm prepared to step back."