Category — EMR Stimulus Package

On Monday, the National Committee for Quality Assurance released new standards for primary care practices seeking recognition under its patient-centered medical home program, Modern Physician reports (Robeznieks, Modern Physician, 1/31).

The new standards reinforce federal criteria on how primary care practices can demonstrate meaningful use ehr of health IT. Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records will qualify for incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid.

New Medical Home Standards

The patient-centered medical home model emphasizes care coordination and communication. Currently, nearly 7,700 health care providers at more than 1,500 locations have met NCQA’s standards to receive recognition as a patient-centered medical home.

NCQA’s new standards for 2011 call for primary care practices to:

• Assist patients with self-care
• Help patients access community resources
• Improve communication between medical facilities; and
• Provide more patient-centered services
• Alignment With Meaningful Use

The new medical home evaluation standards include language from the federal meaningful use rule to reinforce incentives for health care providers to adopt EHRs.

Officials said that aligning the medical home standards with meaningful use criteria will create a beneficial cycle in which physician practices that meet the medical home requirements also will be prepared to meet the meaningful use standards, and vice versa (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 1/31).

Source     :     http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/2/1/new-medical-home-standards-align-with-meaningful-use-rule.aspx

Kentucky and Oklahoma have become the first states to issue Medicaid incentive payments to health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records, Healthcare IT News reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of EHR will qualify for incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid.

First Payment Details

In Kentucky, the University of Kentucky Healthcare received $2.8 million and Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington received $1.3 million from the Medicaid incentive program. The two hospitals were the first in the U.S. to receive checks under the stimulus package (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 1/6).

Twenty-five additional health care providers in Kentucky have started the application process, according to the state (Business First of Louisville, 1/6).

In Oklahoma, two physicians at the Gastorf Family Clinic in Durant each received $21,250 under the Medicaid EHR incentive program.

Other States Prepare for Payments

Iowa and Louisiana are expected to become the next states to administer Medicaid incentive payments for the meaningful use of EHRs, according to CMS (Healthcare IT News, 1/6).

In addition to those four states, Medicaid programs now accepting registration for incentive payments are:

• Alaska;
• Michigan;
• Mississippi;
• North Carolina;
• South Carolina;
• Tennessee; and
• Texas

In February, registration will open in:

• California;
• Missouri; and
• North Dakota

Other states plan to launch their incentive programs on a rolling basis during the spring and summer (Goedert, Health Data Management, 1/6).

Source    :    http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/1/7/kentucky-oklahoma-first-states-to-dish-out-incentive-payments.aspx

It’s not too early to begin marking your calendars with these key dates for EHR incentives that have been released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services:

• Jan. 3, 2011 – Registration for the Medicare EHR incentive program begins.
• Jan. 3, 2011 –States that are ready (currently Alaska, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas)  may launch their incentive programs for Medicaid providers.
• January 2011 – Some state agencies begin issuing Medicaid EHR incentive payments.
• April 2011 – Attestation for the Medicare EHR incentive program begins.
• May 2011 – Issuing of Medicare EHR incentive payments expected to begin.
• July 3, 2011 – Last day for eligible hospitals to begin their 90-day reporting period to demonstrate meaningful use for the Medicare EHR incentive program for federal FY 2011.
• Sept. 30, 2011 – Federal FY 2011 payment year ends at midnight for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs).
• Oct. 3, 2011 – Last day for eligible professionals to begin their 90-day reporting period for calendar year 2011 to demonstrate meaningful use ehr for the Medicare EHR incentive program.
• Nov. 30, 2011 – Last day for eligible hospitals and CAHs to register and attest to receive an incentive payment for federal fiscal year 2011.
• Dec. 31, 2011 – Calendar 2011 payment year ends for eligible professionals.

Source    :     http://emrdailynews.com/2010/12/26/key-dates-for-the-ehr-incentive-program-in-2011/

By the end of January, Medicaid programs in four states could begin distributing incentive payments to health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of EHR (electronic health records) systems, a CMS official said Tuesday during a two-day meeting hosted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Modern Healthcare reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs will qualify for incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid.

Payments for States

During the ONC meeting, Jessica Kahn — technical director for health IT at CMS — said the Medicaid programs that plan to start issuing checks between January and March 2011 are located in:

• Iowa;
• Kentucky;
• Louisiana; and
• Oklahoma.

Kahn added that seven states plan to start the registration process for their incentive payment programs in January. The seven states are:

• Alaska;
• Michigan;
• Mississippi;
• North Carolina;
• South Carolina;
• Tennessee; and
• Texas (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 12/15).

CDC Director Touts EHRs

Also during the ONC meeting, CDC Director Thomas Frieden said EHRs could play a key role in advancing public health within six areas targeted by CDC:

• Adolescent health;
• Food safety;
• Health care-associated infections;
• HIV;
• Motor vehicle injuries; and
• Tobacco control.

To achieve the improvements in public health, Frieden encouraged health IT professionals to work with public health officials in the development and use of EHRs (Barr, Modern Healthcare, 12/15).

Farzad Mostashari — a physician and deputy national coordinator for programs and policy at ONC — said more than 1,000 individuals attended the two-day conference and more than 10,000 viewed sessions online (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 12/16).

Source    :    http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/12/16/four-states-could-start-issuing-ehr-incentive-payments-next-month.aspx

CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT have announced that registration for the Medicare incentive program for the meaningful use of  EHR (electronic health records) will begin on Jan. 3, 2011, Modern Healthcare reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs will qualify for incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid.

More information on registration for the Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments is available on CMS’ website.

Medicare Incentives

To qualify for the Medicare incentive payments, eligible hospitals and health care providers must use a certified EHR system according to the meaningful use guidelines for 90 consecutive days within the first year of the program, which began on Oct. 1.

In April 2011, federal officials will start accepting attestations from health care providers who have met the meaningful use requirements.

By May 2011, qualifying health care providers could begin receiving the first Medicare incentive payments.

Medicaid Incentives

To receive the Medicaid incentive payments, health care providers will need to adopt, implement or upgrade to a certified EHR system during the first year of eligibility.

On Jan. 3, 11 states will be ready to start registering health care providers for the Medicaid incentive payments. They are:

• Alaska;
• Iowa;
• Kentucky;
• Louisiana;
• Michigan;
• Mississippi;
• North Carolina;
• Oklahoma;
• South Carolina;
• Tennessee; and
• Texas.

In February 2011, registration for the Medicaid incentive program is expected to open in:

• California;
• Missouri; and
• North Dakota (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 12/23).

Eligible health care providers who would like to apply for the Medicaid incentive payments will need to begin their registration with CMS and complete the process through an eligibility verification site at their state Medicaid agency (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 12/23).

Many of the states that are ready to begin registration in the next few months plan to issue their first incentive payments by late January or early February 2011 (Modern Healthcare, 12/23). Other states might not launch their incentive programs until spring or summer of 2011 (Kraynak, HealthLeaders Media, 12/23).

Source    :    http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/12/23/registration-for-medicare-ehr-incentives-to-open-on-jan-3.aspx

WASHINGTON – A Department of Health and Human Services advisory panel wants feedback from the public about concepts it has developed for clinical quality measures for meaningful use of ehr in 2013 and 2015.

The Health IT Policy Committee’s quality measures workgroup is drawing up recommendations for new measures that will take advantage of the evolving health IT infrastructure for Stage 2 and Stage 3 meaningful use requirements, said David Lansky, the workgroup chairman.

Lansky is also chief executive officer of the Pacific Business Group on Health.

The panel’s task is to distinguish what is missing in the existing quality measures for 2011, and come up with new and different, broadly applicable measures to advance the improvement of healthcare quality and efficiency through the adoption of certified electronic health records.

The workgroup has identified measure concepts around the areas of patient and family engagement, clinical appropriateness and efficiency, care coordination, patient safety, and population and public health.  These include measures for reconciliation of medications when patients are treated by multiple providers, adverse drug event reporting and for use of services to promote health lifestyles.

“These comments are important to shaping public policy on the future of e-measure development,” Lansky said Dec. 6 in the request for comments.
The panel requests that comments be filed by Dec. 23 on its list of measure concepts and to offer detailed examples of measures that are relevant to each concept, he said.

The measure examples should be able to be built into electronic health record systems; apply across multiple types of providers, care settings and conditions; and support potential improvements in population health. The measures should also support assessment of patient health risks, evaluation of changes in outcomes, and enable the evaluation of longitudinal and condition-specific episodes of care.

Source   :   http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/hhs-panel-seeks-public-input-2013-quality-measures

Last week, CMS revised an online frequently asked questions site regarding provisions in the meaningful use program that affect patient-reporting requirements for hospitals, AHA News reports.

Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

According to the revised FAQ site, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals have two choices concerning the type of patients to consider for Stage 1 rules of meaningful use ehr:

• The “Observation Services method” includes patients who are admitted directly to an inpatient setting, patients who arrive in an emergency department and then are taken to an inpatient department, and patients who receive treatment in an ED and are given observation care.
• The “All ED Visits method” includes patients who receive care in and are discharged from an ED.

The FAQ section was revised based on feedback from hospitals that earlier guidance was not clear about which observation services can be counted.

The revision recognizes that some hospitals are prioritizing EHR adoption in their EDs, while others are concentrating on deployments in inpatient departments, according to AHA News (AHA News, 12/2).

Source    :    http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/12/6/cms-clarifies-hospital-patient-requirements-under-meaningful-use.aspx

CHICAGO – Hospitals across the country are on track to meet 2011 meaningful use criteria set by the federal government, according to new data from HIMSS Analytics. Nearly a quarter of the participating hospitals reported they could achieve 10 or more of the 14 required meaningful use core requirements today.

HIMSS Analytics, a subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), introduced Monday the first of what executives promised would be quarterly analysis of hospitals’ progress toward achieving meaningful use.

The 687 hospitals that responded to the HIMSS Analytics survey have the ability to meet some of both core and menu requirements for Stage 1 of meaningful use ehr. The final rules designate a “core” group of 14 requirements that must be met, plus an additional “menu” of 10 procedures from which providers must select five.

“It’s good to see that so many hospitals are in position to meet the criteria” said John P. Hoyt, executive vice president, HIMSS. “We’ve got a terrific head start.”

The key findings of the survey showed:

• Nearly one quarter (22 percent) of participating hospitals have the capability to achieve 10 or more of the required core measures in the meaningful use Stage 1 requirements.
• Some 34 percent of respondents have the capability to achieve between five and nine of the core measures for meaningful use.
• Just over 40 percent (40.47 percent) of the market indicated they have the capability to meet five or more of the menu items for meaningful use.

“Our data indicate that hospitals have the capability now to meet some of the requirements for meaningful use, which is significant in the lead up to the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs because they indicate that healthcare organizations continue to move toward implementation of health IT,” said Hoyt.

Michelle Glenn, senior director, product management at HIMSS Analytics, said the results of the survey are statistically significant at a 99 percent confidence level and a 5 percent margin of error.

Each quarter, beginning January 2011, HIMSS Analytics will release updated data and analysis on meaningful use compliance for healthcare organizations.

HIMSS Analytics, known for its annual analysis of health IT implementations at more than 5,000 U.S., non-federal hospitals, added questions on meaningful use to its annual survey of U.S. hospitals before the final rules were announced.  Thus, the data reports on 12 of the 14 core and eight of the 10 menu requirements, since not all of the final requirements were initially included in the questions.

Source  :  http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/terrific-head-start-meaningful-use

CMS soon will release modifications for certain provisions in the final rule for Stage 1 of the meaningful use ehr incentive program, Government Health IT reports.

Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for incentive payments through Medicaid and Medicare.

Tony Trenkle — director of the Office of e-Health Standards and Services at CMS — said the adjustments to the meaningful use criteria currently are undergoing a federal clearance process, which is the final step before publication. Trenkle spoke on Wednesday during a Health IT Policy Committee meeting.

Trenkle added that CMS also will release guidance for health care providers on how to meet quality measures in the incentive program.

Discussion of Stages 2, 3

During the meeting, the Policy Committee also considered what incentive requirements to include in the next stages of the meaningful use program.

Committee members discussed whether Stage 2 meaningful use requirements — which are expected to go into effect in 2013 — should be incrementally built on requirements from Stage 1, or if there should be a set of larger steps framed around measuring and improving patient outcomes.

Paul Tang — chair of the meaningful use work group and chief medical information officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation — said the committee would prefer to establish the Stage 3 goals for 2015 first and then backtrack to form Stage 2 requirements.

Committee member Latanya Sweeney — director of the data privacy lab at Carnegie Mellon University — said future meaningful use criteria should incorporate privacy regulations (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 10/20).

National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal said that the rollout of Stage 1 of the meaningful use criteria “was very rushed” (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 10/21). He added that the next stages should focus on infrastructure and interoperability.

Time Frame

Tang said that the meaningful use work group aims to have draft requirements for Stages 2 and 3 by Nov. 19, adding that it will revise the draft after taking comments from the full Policy Committee.

He said final recommendations could be submitted to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT by the third quarter of 2011, while CMS could release a notice of proposed rulemaking on the next stages by the fourth quarter of next year (Manos, Healthcare IT News, 10/21).

Source  :  http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/10/21/officials-preparing-adjustments-to-meaningful-use-final-rule.aspx

BOSTON – The Physicians Foundation, a national organization that supports the interests of physicians and their patients, announced Tuesday it awarded 15 individual grants in 13 states totaling nearly $2 million for numerous health IT projects that support high quality patient care.

Foundation officials said the grants are particularly relevant given the national push toward digital health records, and that they hope to “shape how those changes are implemented in the months and years ahead.”

“Our country’s healthcare workforce is already overworked, and as the government encourages a large scale move to digital records, that transition is going to have a significant impact on practicing physicians,” said Foundation Board Member Ripley Hollister.  “The Foundation has made HIT a specific focus, because it wants to ensure that the move to digital records and the use of other technologies is made in a constructive, positive fashion – specifically, one that preserves and supports the doctor-patient relationship.”

Projects receiving Foundation support in this round of grants include:

•    “Meaningful Use Achievement Toolkit,” a program to develop and disseminate tools that assist physicians with achieving meaningful use of certified electronic record systems.
•    “HIT in Practice,” a program to develop a series of supports and resources for implementation of electronic health records (EHR) in small practices.
•    Grants for assisting physicians in various states with implementing digital health records.

The health IT grants are part of a larger effort this year by the Physicians Foundation, totaling more than $4.2 million.

“Our fundamental goal in making these grants was simple,” said Lou Goodman the foundation’s president. “We want to help improve the practice environment for physicians so that they can more easily do what matters most to them: spend time taking care of patients.”

Source      :       http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/physicians-foundation-awards-15-organizations-2m-it-projects