Doctors can accept free computers from hospitals, so long as they use the donated hardware and software to receive and transmit electronic prescription drug information, says the government. Should you take advantage of this? Here's what you need to know.

Staying within the safe harbor
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General published a safe harbor to the Anti-kickback Statue involving electronic prescribing technology and electronic medical records in October. It's aimed at helping hospitals, group practices and pharmacies meet the Medicare Modernization Act's goals for taking healthcare digital - and at doctors who've been slow to join the digital revolution. The intended result would be easier data transfer, reduction of prescription or medical record errors, and increased overall connectivity in healthcare.

The OIG has recognized that gifts of equipment to referral sources - which is essentially what this safe harbor will provide a channel for - are highly suspect under the Anti-kickback Statute. Therefore, the rules about who can give what to whom would be very specific (see "Proposed Safe Harbor at a Glance").

To help ensure that software isn't used to simply lock up business or drive business to a facility, hospitals must meet these eight conditions contained in the safe harbor.

• The hospital provides items and services to physicians who are members of its medical staff.
• The items and services are donated as part of, or are used to access, an electronic prescription drug program that meets the applicable standards under Medicare Part D.
• The donor (or any person on the donor's behalf) must not take any actions to limit or restrict unnecessarily the use or compatibility of the items or services with other electronic prescription information items or services or electronic health information systems.
• The donor may not restrict, or take any action to limit, the recipient's right or ability to use the items or services for any patient.
• The prescribing healthcare professional, pharmacy or pharmacist (or any affiliated group, employee or staff member) can't make receipt of items or services a condition of doing business with the donor.
• The volume or value of referrals or other business between the parties shouldn't determine the items or services the donor gives.
• A written agreement, signed by the parties, should specify the items or services being provided and their values. It should cover all the electronic prescribing items and services to be furnished, and certify that they're not technically or functionally equivalent to items and services the recipient already possesses.
• The donor makes the donation knowing that the recipient doesn't already possess such items and services - and doesn't make the donation if they're already in place.

Taking healthcare digital
This safe harbor may well be a boon for surgeons who work with hospitals, not to mention a big step toward automating more areas of healthcare.