EHR Meaningful Use Audits – Coming Soon to an Office Near You!

September 24, 2013March 12, 2014 Ann Feldkamp Triebsch Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use EHR incentive program audit, eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, HIPAA security risk analysis, hospital incentives for EHRs, linkedin, meaningful use audits, meaningful use of certified EHR

by Ann F. Triebsch

As we indicated in a posting last October and in a more recent August post , audits are now underway to verify that providers who received incentive monies from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act for implementation of a certified electronic health record (EHR) have indeed met the “meaningful use” (MU) criteria. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has contracted with Garden City, NY-based Fagliozzi and Company to conduct these audits. The audits are designed to verify that providers receiving incentive payments are using certified EHR technology in a meaningful way. These audits can be a hassle, and there are risks if you cannot promptly provide what is requested—even if you are complying with the MU criteria.

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OCR Delays Revisions to Laboratories’ Notices of Privacy Practices

September 23, 2013March 12, 2014 Margaret Young Levi Federal Law Resources, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use, Privacy & Security CLIA, delay, diagnostic test results on patient portal, linkedin, Patient Access to Health Information, stage 2 meaningful use measure 7

Late last week the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced a delay in its enforcement of the requirement that certain laboratories revise their notices of privacy practices (NPPs).

As we have previously posted on the HITECH Law Blog, HHS has in the works revisions to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act of 1988 (CLIA) regulations concerning whether a lab must release results directly to patients. Rather than forcing labs to revise their NPPs by September 23, 2013 (today) and then revise them again when the new CLIA regulations are final, HHS chose to delay enforcement until the new CLIA-specific rule is released.

This delay applies to HIPAA-covered, CLIA-certified or CLIA-exempt laboratories that are not required to provide an individual with access to his or her laboratory test reports under the HIPAA Privacy Rule because the information is subject to the exceptions to the right of access. The delay does not apply to laboratories that operate as part of a larger legal entity, such as a hospital, and by virtue of that relationship, do not have their own, laboratory-specific, NPPs.

To read more about the HHS Proposed Rule that will enable direct access to laboratory test results by patients, see our September 14, 2011 blog post. To read the Proposed Rule, click here.

HHS Announces Dramatic Increase in Adoption of Electronic Health Records

May 23, 2013March 12, 2014 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health care reform, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Incentives, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus ARRA, Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Act, linkedin, meaningful use of certified EHR, ONC

On May 22, 2013, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the United States Health & Human Services Department, announced that over 50 percent of doctors and over 80 percent of hospitals are making a “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHRs) and have received incentives for such use. By comparison, in 2008, just nine percent had adopted EHRs. Secretary Sebelius credits the “dramatic increase” in adoption of EHRs to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) that was passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The HITECH Act awards incentives to eligible professionals (physicians) and hospitals who make a “meaningful use” of EHR technology that has been certified by the HHS Office of National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC). The HHS press release with further information is available here.

CMS-ONC Listening Session on Coding and Billing

May 3, 2013December 2, 2013 Kathie McDonald-McClure EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Fraud and Abuse, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law EHR and fraudulent documentation, EHRs and cloning, EHRs and cut and paste, EHRs and macros, Electronic Health Records, emr compliance, Health Information Technology, HITECH Act, impact of EHR documentation on billing and coding, linkedin

On Friday, May 3, 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC) jointly hosted a listen and learn webcast about the impact of EHRs on coding and billing. Look for HITECHMcClure on Twitter for comments from the panelists. Materials used during the session can be accessed here. CMS plans to post an audio recording of the session on its Educational Resources webpage at a later date.

ONC revokes two EHR product certifications — review your vendor contract warranties!

April 28, 2013March 12, 2014 Kathie McDonald-McClure EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Incentives, Meaningful Use 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, State Medicaid EHR Incentives

On April 25, 2013, the Officer of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced that it had revoked certification for two electronic health record (EHR) products that the ONC had previously certified for use as part of the incentive program implemented pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act). The products for which ONC revoked certification are EHRMagic-Ambulatory and EHRMagic-Inpatient. The ONC’s press release with additional information is available here.

Whether the providers who purchased these products in reliance on the previous ONC certification will be able to recoup their investment in these products may depend on the terms of any vendor agreement signed between the parties. For providers who are purchasing ONC-certified products, this development highlights the importance of examining the provider’s EHR vendor agreement to ensure that it contains adequate warranty and indemnification provisions that will protect the provider in case the vendor’s product is de-certified by the ONC. Importantly, without “certified EHR technology”, the provider will not qualify for the HITECH Act’s meaningful use incentive payments.