The health care reform law is massive, and it will take time for employers to develop appropriate plans for compliance. The first transformative step in health care reform actually started with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which included the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). The HITECH Act set the course for implementing a nationwide network of electronic health records (EHRs). One of the main goals of the HITECH Act is to ensure privacy and security. Why might this be important to a business that is not a health care provider? To find out, join the Kentucky Chamber’s webinar, Health Care Reform Update for Employers, on December 16, 2010, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm (EST). The first part of the webinar will focus on the employer and its HR department, looking at the new laws and discussing what decisions an employer must consider in light of these new laws. Jason Lee, Esq., a member of the Tax, Business & Personal Planning Service Team at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP, will lead this discussion, which also will include an overview of tax credits and penalties, as well the changes in effect now and those coming in the future, for employers. The second part of the webinar will focus on the changes that occurred last year with the passage of the HITECH Act. Kathie McDonald-McClure, Esq., Editor of the HITECH Law Blog and a partner with Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP, will lead this discussion. She will highlight certain provisions of the HITECH Act’s new privacy and security provisions that will have an immediate and direct impact on certain businesses, including those that do not directly provide any health care. For more information, and to sign up, click here.
Hot Topics in Electronic Data Usage, Privacy and Security Webinar
The Kentucky Chamber is sponsoring a webinar on eletronic data usage, privacy and security on November 18, 2010, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm (EST). Erin McMahon, Esq., a partner with Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP, and a member of its Health Care Service Team, will talk about employer’s maintainance of privacy and security of electronic data and using it properly. The webinar will examine what data should be private on employees’ computers, some of the Web site and social media issues facing employers, the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Red Flags Rule, and data breaches. For more information, and to sign up, click here.
Critical Access Hospitals to Submit Part C Informational Only Claims to Medicare Contractors for EHR Incentive Payment Purposes
On October 15, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Transmittal 2066 to address the submission of informational only claims by Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) as well as Maryland Waiver Hospitals in order to track Part C patient days for purposes of calculating the Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentives available to such hospitals. Informational only claims are billed for patients enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) Plan. The Transmittal also includes the Incentive Payment formula for Subsection (d) hospitals as well as CAHs, as follows: Continue reading
EHR Certification Organizations and Certified EHRs
Just to recap where we are today, the U.S. Health & Human Services Department (HHS) Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has authorized three organizations to perform complete EHR and/or EHR module testing and certification under the Temporary Certification Program Rules. Certification means that the EHR or EHR module has the capabilities necessary to support the efforts of eligible hospitals and eligible professionals in meeting the Meaningful Use requirements under Final Rule issued by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for Meaningful Use. The three ONC-Authorized Testing & Certification Bodies (ATCBs) to date are Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), Drummond Group, Inc. (Drummond), and InfoGuard Laboratories, Inc. (InfoGuard). For additional information about the ONC process for achieving ATCB status, as well as more information about Standards & Certification generally, see the ONC webpage.
CMS Posts Updated and New EHR Incentive FAQs
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.”
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