CMS Opens Registration for EHR Incentives on January 3, 2011

December 30, 2010October 31, 2011 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus Electronic Health Records, eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, HITECH Act, hospital incentives for EHRs, linkedin, State Medicaid EHR Incentives

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated its HITECH electronic health records webpage to include information about registration for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. Per CMS, registration opens on January 3, 2011 and a link will be available on the CMS HITECH website here. CMS encourages providers to register for the Medicare and/or Medicaid EHR Incentive Program(s) as soon as possible. Providers can register before they have a certified EHR. CMS encourages providers to register even if they do not have an enrollment record in PECOS!

CMS also notes that although the Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs will begin January 3, 2011, not all states will be ready to participate on this date. As of this posting, registration will be available on January 3, 2011 for the following states:

Alaska — Iowa — Kentucky — Louisiana — Oklahoma — Michigan — Mississippi — North Carolina — South Carolina — Tennessee — Texas

Information on when registration will be available for Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs in specific States is posted here. For more information from CMS about the EHR Incentive Program, click here.

CMS Posts Updated and New EHR Incentive FAQs

September 28, 2010August 14, 2012 Kathie McDonald-McClure EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, HITECH Act, hospital incentives for EHRs, linkedin, meaningful use of certified EHR

On September 27, 2010, CMS updated its answers and posted a few new ones to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the electronic health record (EHR) incentives available under the HITECH Act’s Meaningful Use (“MU”) Final Rule. Here is a sampling of answers addressed in the FAQs:

Registration for Medicare MU incentives is to be available on-line in January 2011 with more information to come near end of 2010.
All EHR products must be certified through the ONC Authorzied Testing and Certification Body (ATCB) in order to meet MU.
Providers, not vendors, must demonstrate MU of certified EHRs.
Payment of Medicare MU incentives is expected to begin in May 2011.
There is no funding to reimburse a provider for EHR implementation costs that exceed the established MU incentive payment caps.
Ambulatory Surgery Centers are not eligible for the EHR incentives.
There is no funding under the HITECH Act for nursing home EHRs.
Eligible Professionals (EPs) may assign their incentive payments to their employer or an entity with whom the EP has a contractual arrangement.
EPs cannot receive an incentive payment under both the Medicare MU program and the MIPPA E-Prescribing Incentive Program in the same year.
EPs can receive both the Medicaid MU Program incentive and the MIPPA E-Prescribing Incentive Program payment for the same year.
An EP in a hospital-based ambulatory care clinic may be eligible to receive the Medicare MU Incentives if such EP is not providing 90% of his or her services in the hospital ED or inpatient care setting.
EPs eligible for both the Medicare MU incentive and Medicaid MU incentive payment in the same year must choose one.
Once an EP receives an MU incentive payment under either Medicare or Medicaid, that EP can switch between the programs only once before 2015.
The reporting period for EPs is 90 consecutive days during the first calendar year that the EP qualifies and a full calendar year thereafter.
Medicare payment adjustments begin in 2015 for both EPs and hospitals who do not demonstrate MU.
CMS will publish the names, addresses and business phone numbers of all EPs and hospitals receiving EHR incentive payments.
The meaning of numerators and denominators in the measures required to establish MU is briefly summarized in this FAQ.
Patients admitted through the Emergency Department (ED) will be included in the MU measures respecting inpatients.

As of today’s date, there were 103 FAQs related to EHR incentives. To read all the FAQs about EHR incentives, go to the CMS FAQs webpage and enter the search terms “EHR incentives.”

Commercial Payors Implementing EHR Meaningful Use Criteria in P4P Programs

August 7, 2010October 31, 2011 Kathie McDonald-McClure Health care reform, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus commercial payer support for EHRs, Electronic Health Records, eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Act, hospital incentives for EHRs, linkedin, meaningful use of certified EHR

Update: On August 9, 2010, Humana, Inc. and athenahealth, Inc. announced their collaboration to provide physicians access to a practice management/EHR software system combined with a rewards program related to quality measures. For more information, click here.

On August 5, 2010, four major commercial health insurance payors participated in the Health Industry Forum in Washington, D.C., to discuss private industry collaboration with the United States Health & Human Services Department (HHS) to support providers in the adoption of certified electronic health records (EHRs). Leading the Forum’s panel discussion was David Blumenthal, M.D., Chief of the Office of National Coordinator of HIT. All four payors will include the Meaningful Use criteria in their pay for performance (P4P) programs.

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CMS Holds Training Teleconference on EHR Final Rules

July 23, 2010August 4, 2010 Kathie McDonald-McClure EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, Health Information Technology, hospital incentives for EHRs, linkedin, meaningful use of certified EHR, ONC

On Thursday, July 22, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a publicly available teleconference to give an overview of the 800+ page Final Rule on Meaningful Use (MU) under the HITECH Act, as well as an overview of the Final and Proposed Rules on Temporary & Permanent Certification Program and the Final Rule on the Standards and Certification Criteria for electronic health records (EHRs). CMS is making an “encore recording” of the 90-minute teleconference available until 11:00 pm, Saturday, July 24, 2010. Call toll-free, 1-800-642-1689 and enter the conference ID 87841621 to hear the encore recording. CMS will post an audio recording link to the teleconference on its EHR Incentive Programs website sometime in August 2010. The slides accompanying the audio are available on that same website, here (scroll to Downloads and click on the links for the July 22, 2010 Training materials).

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HHS Releases Final Rule on “Meaningful Use” of Electronic Health Records

July 14, 2010January 10, 2011 Kathie McDonald-McClure EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Health care reform, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus, Privacy & Security 75 Fed Reg 44314 July 28 2010, 75 Fed Reg 44590 July 28 2010, EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Act, hospital incentives for EHRs, linkedin, meaningful use of certified EHR, privacy and security of health information exchange

Update: On December 29, 2010, HHS published in the Federal Register a “Correcting Amendment” to its Final Rule on Meaningful Use, which can be viewed here.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wasted no time in putting the brand new CMS Director to work on July 13, 2010, in announcing the release of two rules under the Health Information Technology for Clinical and Economic Health Act (HITECH), including the Final Rule on Meaningful Use and the Final Rule on Initial Set of EHR Standards and Certification Criteria. Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, was sworn in as Director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday afternoon, July 12, 2010, and by the next morning was primed to discuss the important role of health information technology (HIT) in America. In addition to Dr. Berwick’s participation at the press briefing, other participants included David Blumenthal, MD, the Chief Coordinator for the HHS Office of National Coordinator of HIT (ONC), Regina Benjamin, MD, U.S. Surgeon General, and Regina Holiday, an individual who shared a personal experience involving access to health information and how such access impacts the care of patients.

Quick Reference: The CMS Fact Sheet on both Final Rules is available here.

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