INCENTIVE PROGRAM FAQS
1) Who is eligible for the stimulus heath information technology (Health IT) incentives?
2) What type of timeline would a typical small practice use to progress through the EHR adoption stages?
3) What is the registration process?
For the answers to these and many more questions click here.
Updated EHR FAQ - updated Feb. 2012
ehr:meaningful use - stage 2 Overview
September 17, 2012
CMS recently published a final rule that specifies the Stage 2 criteria that eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must meet in order to continue to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs.
Posting the Limiting Charge After Applying the E-Prescribing Penalty Adjustment
Oct. 29, 2012
Beginning January 1, 2012, Eligible Professionals (EPs) who are not successful electronic prescribers are subject to a negative payment adjustment. This includes non-participating physicians submitting non-assigned claims. In order to properly bill Medicare patient's the correct amount for services, providers must be aware of the correct limiting charge and deduct the proper negative adjustment amount.
Posting the Limiting Charge after the ERx Adjustment-MM7877
E-RX
Understanding the Basics of Medicare's E-Prescribing Program.pdf
Medicare introduced an e-prescribing program in 2009 that encourages physicians to electronically transmit their prescriptions. The e-prescribing program provides incentive payments for physicians who e-prescribe and payment penalties for physicians who do not. Starting in 2012, Medicare will begin a 1 percent payment reduction penalty on all Medicare allowed charges for eligible professionals who do not electronically transmit their prescriptions. The penalty increases to 1.5 percent in 2013 and 2 percent in 2014.
EHR - 4 Common Transition Problems
How One Practice Handled Them
Moment of truth: 4 common EHR transition problems and how one practice handled them. ....
>> Story Continues >>
HHS announces 2013 agenda to bring down costs
HHS announces 2013 agenda to bring down costs and improve quality of care through implementation of health information technology
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner and the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari, M. D....
>> Story Continues >>
EHR Final Rule for Meaningful Use
This final rule implements the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (Pub. L. 111-5) that provide incentive payments to eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs that adopt and successfully demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology. This final rule specifies—the initial criteria EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs must meet in order to qualify for an incentive payment; calculation of the incentive payment amounts; payment adjustments under Medicare for covered professional services and inpatient hospital services provided by EPs, eligible hospitals and CAHs failing to demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology; and other program participation requirements. Also, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) will be issuing a closely related final rule that specifies the Secretary’s adoption of an initial set of standards, implementation, specifications, and certification criteria for electronic health records. ONC has also issued a separate final rule on the establishment of certification programs for health information technology.
Electronic Health Records (EHR) Resources
The Official Web Site for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
This official web site provides up-to-date, detailed information about the Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentive programs. Use the tabs to the left to find additional information regarding various aspects of the program.
www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/
This is where you can find the latest information about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. Please check back often for timely announcements, updates, and upcoming events.
www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/50_Spotlight.asp#TopOfPage
The Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs provide a financial reward for the meaningful use of qualified, certified EHRs to achieve health and efficiency goals. By implementing a certified EHR system, providers will reap benefits beyond financial incentives - like reduction in errors, availability of records and data, reminders and alerts, clinical decision support and e-Prescribing/refill automation.
www.cms.gov/ERxIncentive/03_How_To_Get_Started.asp#TopOfPage
In order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs, health professionals and hospitals must meet the eligibility criteria defined by law.
www.cms.gov/ERxIncentive/05_Eligible%20Professionals.asp#TopOfPage
Providers and patients must be confident that the electronic health information technology (health IT) products and systems they use are secure, can maintain data confidentially, can work with other systems to share information, and can perform a set of well-defined functions. To this end, standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for health IT are being established by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC.)
www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/25_Certification.asp#TopOfPage
To qualify for incentive payments, meaningful use requirements must be met in the following ways:
www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/30_Meaningful_Use.asp#TopOfPage
The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive programs are slated to begin in early 2011. Registration is not available at this time. More information will be available in the coming months.
www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/50_Registration.asp#TopOfPage
downloads
When selecting an EHR, you will probably see product demonstrations from at least 3 to 5 EHR vendors. It is important that, after you have seen them all, you have detailed notes that remind you what you liked and didn’t like about each one. You also want to make sure that you can make an "apples to apples" comparison of what will be very different products. One way to do this is to develop a standard set of criteria on which you want to evaluate EHR systems, and then ask everyone who will be attending the demonstration to grade the products based on that criteria.
The California Medical Association has developed a standard evaluation form that you can use. You may, however, want to tailor this form for the specific needs of your practice. For example, radiologists or ophthalmologists may need an EHR system with very specific imaging capabilities. Those physicians would probably want to give more weight to those specific functions.
Questions to ask to gain better understanding of vendor standing...
Questions to ask to uncover additional vendor cost considerations...
ehr-medicare-incentive-summary
ehr-medi-cal-incentive-summary
