The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has started accepting applications from organizations seeking to be named as testing and certification bodies for electronic health record systems, Modern Healthcare reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate “meaningful use” of certified EHR systems will qualify for federal incentive payments.

ONC issued the final rule on the temporary testing and certification program on June 18, and the rule appeared in the Federal Register on June 24.

The stimulus package gave ONC the option of retaining the Certification Commission for Health IT as the sole EHR certification group or recognizing a new organization, according to Modern Healthcare. ONC opted to expand its search for a new group, and CCHIT has joined a pool of applicants for the distinction.

Carol Bean, a standards harmonization analyst for ONC, said HHS to date has received about 40 application inquiries and 14 requests for applications. She said ONC has 30 days after receiving an application to decide whether the organization qualifies as an “authorized testing and certification body” under the temporary certification program.

The final rules for the permanent authorization program have not yet been released, although a proposed rule was issued in March (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 7/1).

Source:http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/7/2/onc-starts-accepting-applications-for-ehr-certification-groups.aspx

Last Monday, CMS launched a new website intended to help health care providers better understand the criteria to meet federal requirements for the “meaningful use” of electronic health record systems, Government Health IT reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs will qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 6/21).

Website visitors can download fact sheets detailing the proposed program requirements and the proposed definition of meaningful use.

The site also clarifies various terms, such as “eligible professional” and “certification,” that are included in the HITECH Act (McKinney, Modern Healthcare, 6/21).

In addition, the site includes:

• An overview of the incentive program;
• Information about what health care providers are eligible for incentive payments;
• Information on how to register for the program; and
• Guidance on what health care providers can do to prepare for meaningful use.

CMS also said that it would use the website to publicize EHR training and events related to the incentive program (Government Health IT, 6/21).

According to Modern Healthcare, the website will offer more specific information about the incentive eligibility requirements after CMS issues the final rule on the EHR incentive programs later this summer (Modern Healthcare, 6/21).

Source: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/6/22/cms-unveils-new-website-on-meaningful-use-incentives.aspx

By Jennifer Lubell

West Virginia has received $6 million in federal stimulus funds to establish a regional health information technology extension center.

The center has been designated as the statewide organization to provide education, training and support services to help the state’s primary-care providers implement and meaningfully use health information technology for the purpose of improving patient outcomes.

“It should be active this summer,” said an aide to West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, who along with other local and state officials announced on June 8 the effort to help primary-care doctors adopt electronic health.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus law, mandates that providers meaningfully use an electronic health-record system to qualify for up to an estimated $27.3 billion in federal reimbursements.

To help physicians become eligible for these incentive payments, the center will, among other initiatives, provide assistance in the selection and purchasing of electronic health-record systems, project management and implementation services, and guidance on privacy and security matters.

“West Virginia remains a national leader in the adoption of health information technology, and this statewide health information-technology extension center will be another key component of our ongoing efforts to use technology to improve the health of our citizens,” Manchin said in a written statement. “This project is the latest example of how West Virginia is working to modernize its healthcare delivery system in order to improve overall healthcare, enhance efficiencies and facilitate greater information-sharing between physicians and patients,” he said.

Source:http://www.modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100609/NEWS/100609949

By, Diana Manos

CHICAGO – Officials of HIMSS Analytics, the not-for-profit subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and management System Society (HIMSS), announced Wednesday they would be adding new questions to their annual study on meaningful use to gauge hospitals’ readiness.

With hospitals expected to complete the first phase of deadlines for meaningful use by 2011 to qualify for bonuses under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, HIMSS Analytics will ask hospitals about their inclusion of structured document standards to convert narrative data to a structured format importable to an electronic medical record (EMR).

HIMSS Analytics tracks the EMR implementation status of more than 5,000 U.S., non-governmental hospitals through its annual study with hospital CIOs. The data gathered provides a detailed look at the clinical and financial application environments in U. S. hospitals.

HIMSS Analytics also developed the Electronic Medical Record Adoption ModelSM - or EMRAM - to score hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database on their .progress in completing the eight stages to creating a paperless patient record environment.

“In our evaluation of EMR Adoption Model scores over 2008-2009, we found that hospitals are continuing to advance the care delivery capabilities of their EMR environment,” said John Hoyt, vice president of HIMSS Healthcare Organizational Services.

“ARRA funding incentives are driving EMR implementation,” Hoyt said. “With this expanded arsenal of data, HIMSS Analytics can help healthcare providers better understand and follow the Meaningful Use requirements while moving higher on the EMRAM scale.”

According to Liora Alschuler executive committee representative of the Health Story Project, which helped write the new questions for HIMSS Analytics, much of the information in a patient’s medical record may be entered by the physician or nurse in chart form, such as notes taken during a clinic visit, lab reports or other information that contributes to the completeness of individual health history.

Health Story produces data standards for the flow of information between common types of healthcare documents and electronic medical records, Alschuler said.

Alschuler, principal, at Alschuler Associates, LLC, said the Health Story standards are based on HL7 Clinical Document Architecture reusing templates from the Continuity of Care Document. The Health Story Project, founded a little over two years ago, is a nonprofit collaborative of healthcare vendors, providers and associations.

“The members of Health Story believe that all of the clinical information required for good patient care, administration, reporting and research should be readily available electronically, including information from narrative documents,” Alschuler said. “With the data gathered from the HIMSS Analytics Study, we will know how hospitals are using document standards to enrich the flow of information to their EMRs.”

Officials at HIMSS Analytics said they expect to begin reporting on hospital readiness for meaningful use in September 2010.

Source: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/himss-analytics-gauge-hospital-readiness-meaningful-use

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission has recommended a series of changes to the federal government’s proposed rule on electronic health record certification, Healthcare IT News reports.

EHNAC, a not-for-profit standards group, issued the recommendations in response to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on EHR certification.

ONC’s proposed rule calls for the establishment of a temporary EHR certification program, which eventually would be replaced by a permanent certification program. The temporary program would allow ONC-authorized certification bodies to test and certify EHRs and EHR modules.

Recommendations

EHNAC officials said the group is concerned that the current definition of ONC-authorized certification bodies would exclude EHNAC and other organizations from consideration as certifiers of health information exchanges.

The group said its recommendations would enable EHNAC to be named a health data exchange certifier without needing official designation as an EHR certifier.

In its recommendations, EHNAC called for ONC to:

• Allow certifiers to establish a “virtual” office for conducting certification tasks;
• Extend the deadline for organizations to develop certification programs to encourage more groups to apply for designation as temporary certifiers;
• Eliminate unscheduled site visits and provide organizations with sufficient time to prepare for planned visits; and
• Refrain from considering a certified testing program a necessary requirement for the certification of health IT products (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 5/25).

Above article publish on http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/5/25/standards-organization-calls-for-onc-to-revisit-ehr-certification-rule.aspx

Last week, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal published an open letter touting the Nationwide Health Information Network as a model to help health care providers meet the “meaningful use” requirements of the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, Modern Healthcare reports.

Under the stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records will qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 5/17).

Blumenthal wrote that NHIN is “not a network per se, but rather a set of standards, services, and policies that enable the Internet to be used for the secure exchange of health information to improve health and health care.”

NHIN Direct

He also acknowledged that some health care providers “may have simpler needs for information exchange, or perhaps less technically sophisticated capabilities.” He said such health care providers could benefit from NHIN Direct, which still is under development (Blumenthal letter, 5/14).

NHIN Direct is a basic version of NHIN that offers health care providers open-source software to develop a network for the electronic transmission of health information (Modern Healthcare, 5/17).

Blumenthal wrote that NHIN Direct “is meant to enhance, not replace, the capabilities offered by other means of exchange.” He added that the model could “complement existing NHIN exchange capabilities and strengthen our efforts toward comprehensive interoperability across the nation” (Blumenthal letter, 5/14).

In addition, Blumenthal wrote that ONC is “on an aggressive timeline” to develop standards for NHIN Direct so health care providers can use the framework to qualify for incentive payments.

He also called for greater public participation in the NHIN Direct project through blogs and a community wiki, which are available on the project’s website (Modern Healthcare, 5/17).

Above article publish on http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/5/17/blumenthal-nhin-nhin-direct-offer-paths-to-meaningful-use.aspx

By Joseph Conn

The CMS has announced the awarding of a total of just over $9 million in matching funds to be used by four states to plan for their Medicaid programs to subsidize provider purchases and the use of electronic health-record systems under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus law.

The states and their grant amounts are: New Jersey, $4.93 million; Louisiana, $1.85 million; Maryland, $1.37 million; and Minnesota, $1.04 million.

Since November 2009, 39 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have shared nearly $67.6 million in planning grants, according to news release information on the CMS website.

The stimulus law provides a 90% federal match to cover the cost of state planning efforts for the Medicaid EHR subsidy programs. According to federal estimates, the government estimates it could spend as much as $27.3 billion on the EHR subsidies under Medicaid, Medicare and Medicare Advantage programs.

Above article publish on http://www.modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100511/NEWS/100519988

In a comment letter sent Friday, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives stressed the importance of ensuring that the electronic health record certification process can adequately handle the demand to certify EHR systems, Healthcare IT News reports (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 4/30).

CHIME also said EHR systems that receive certification under the temporary certification program being established this year should be able to have that certification carry over to the permanent program that will be established in 2012 (Goedert, Health Data Management, 4/30).

The comments are in response to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on EHR certification.

CHIME also recommended that ONC:

• Ensure that the certification program has the capacity to handle demand;
• Focus on EHR certification before expanding to other technologies (Healthcare IT News, 4/30);
• Provide details on how it will coordinate the EHR testing and certification process with the National Institute of Standards and Technology;
• Explain what constitutes a self-developed EHR;
• Require vendors to disclose what functions their products are certified to perform and any known compatibility issues; and
• Give vendors adequate time to recertify their products if a certifying body loses its authority to certify products (Health Data Management, 4/30).

Above article publish on http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/5/3/chime-offers-input-on-electronic-health-record-certification-plans.aspx

By Liv Osby

Stimulus money to the tune of $5.6 million was awarded to Health Sciences South Carolina with a goal of getting 1,000 primary care doctors in the state to adopt the new electronic medical records system.

The funds will be used to set up a regional program called the Center for Information Technology Implementation Assistance. HSSC worked with the state Department of Health and Human Services to develop a statewide strategy for forging ahead with EMR.

“CITIA-SC will play a key role in supporting medical professionals throughout the state as they adopt and expand health information technologies in their practices,” said DHHS Director Emma Forkner.

DHHS spokesman Jeff Stensland said the University of South Carolina estimates about 60 percent of physician practices and 42 percent of hospitals have fully-integrated EMRs.

DHHS recently got a $9 million grant for its statewide health information exchange, which gives hospitals, doctors, clinics and other health care providers access to medical records.

HSSC is a partnership between universities and hospitals in the state to foster economic growth and improve health.

Above article publish on http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20100426/NEWS/304260003/1004/NEWS01/Medical-records-system-benefits–from-stimulus-funds-

One of the keys to achieving meaningful use and thus being able to qualify for federal incentive payments for the implementation of EMRs is the use of Computerized Physician Order Entry. What exactly is CPOE and how can it be implemented successfully?

CPOE is a program that physicians use to place orders for medications, lab tests, radiology exams, admissions, referrals and other tasks. A CPOE replaces written orders, phone calls and faxes, because it is linked to every other department in the hospital.

The Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ), a unit of the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded ten grants to various health care providers to implement CPOE, and studied what happened. Their results show that there are certain things that providers can do to help improve the chances of a successful implementation.

The ten contracts were spread across both urban and rural hospitals in various parts of the country, and were intended for use in implementing inpatient programs. Some CPOE systems were implemented with EMRs, or in addition to existing EMRs, and all of them were put in place in conjunction with a decision support system.

Interviews with the grant recipients revealed that certain factors were critical to the success of a CPOE implementation. Here is a brief summary:

• Training – Frequent training and retraining is critical to a successful implementation.
• Staffing – Staff who understand both IT and clinical science are important. If you don’t have them, hire them or train existing personnel.
• Workflow – CPOE is by nature disruptive, so plan to redesign your workflow to accommodate these changes.
• Resources – Be sure to allocate enough resources (money, time and people) for planning, training, implementation and maintenance.
• Work With Vendors – Have good relations with vendors, but don’t allow them to delay your implementation program. Write penalties into contracts.
• Committees – Create and use Clinical Steering Committees early and often.
• Order Sets – Involve as many clinicians as possible in the creation of order sets, but strike a balance between filled-in fields and default values.
• Interoperability – Good luck with this one. Most of the grantees faced challenges integrating CPOE with other programs. Vendors did not want to cooperate in connecting to other company’s products.
• Support – Support should be available 24/7, especially at the beginning of the implementation. Address problems quickly and completely. Make support easy to access.
• Alert Fatigue – Expect a lot of alerts when you go live, and expect clinicians to find it annoying. Grantees had to develop new techniques to eliminate unnecessary alerts.

The conclusions reached here show that implementing the CPOE component of an EMR will pose challenges that will require creativity and tenacity while you design workarounds, but a successful implementation is possible. It seems to be true that what works for CPOE will work for other components of an EMR implementation.

Above article publish on http://blog.pchealthstop.com/?p=926