Nationwide EHR Incentive Program Event for Hospitals – Deadline January 3rd

January 3, 2011, marks the first day for hospitals to register their intent to achieve meaningful use and qualify for incentive payments under the HITECH EHR Incentive Program. To highlight this achievement, hospitals across the country are being encouraged to hold press events, on Thursday, January 13, 2011, and invite local physician practices as well as State and local stakeholders to join the event.

Organizations anticipating meeting meaningful use requirements by December 2011 are eligible to participate in these Nationwide EHR Incentive Program Registration Events and celebrate their commitment to quality healthcare for patients.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) will be coordinating this effort and will provide press support and instructions for participation. HIMSS will follow-up with all interested parties with further instructions.

If your hospital is interested in participating, please provide the following information to kyle.nicholls@hhs.gov and david.bergman@hhs.gov by EOD January 3, 2011:

• Name of Organization
• City
• State
• Type (CAH, Rural, Private Practice, etc.)
• Contact Name
• Contact Email
• Contact Phone

For more information on registering for Medicare EHR incentive funds, please click here to visit CMS’ Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs web site.

As a Regional Extension Center (REC) contractor, CRHC will continue to assist participating hospitals and clinics with information and assistance on how to attest and qualify for incentive payments. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Tracy McDonald at tm@coruralhealth.org.

EHR Incentive Program Registration Reminder, Required Information & Key Dates

Registration for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program opens on January 3, 2011. CMS is encouraging Eligible Providers/Clinics and Hospitals to register as soon as possible even if an EHR has not yet been implemented. CMS’ Registration and Attestation page also lists other requirements for incentive payments for both eligible providers/clinics and hospitals.

Registration is required for program participation; however, it is not necessary to identify the certified EHR technology at the time of registration. The name and version of the certified EHR technology will be required for attestation.

Along with certified EHR technology and the demonstration of Meaningful Use, most Hospitals will require the following information for incentive payments:

• National provider identifier (NPI)
• National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) account
• An enrollment record in the Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS)
• CMS Identify and Access Management (I&A) system user identification (ID) and password
• CMS certification number (CCN)
• Hospital tax ID number

Eligible Providers/Clinics will require the following information for incentive payments:

• NPI
• NPPES account
• An enrollment record in the PECOS (Note: this is unnecessary for those registering for the Medicaid program only)
• Payee tax ID number (for those reassigning benefits)
• Payee NPI (for those reassigning benefits

CMS also announced the following key dates for the Medicare incentive program's first year. Key dates for the Medicaid incentive program's first year in Colorado have not yet been announced.

• January 3, 2011 - Registration for the Medicare EHR incentive program begins.
• April 2011 - Attestation for the Medicare EHR incentive program begins.
• May 2011 - Issuing of Medicare EHR incentive payments expected to begin.
• July 3, 2011 - Last day for eligible hospitals to begin their 90-day reporting period to demonstrate meaningful use for the Medicare EHR incentive program for federal FY 2011.
• September 30, 2011 - Federal FY 2011 payment year ends at midnight for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs).
• October 3, 2011 - Last day for eligible providers/clinics to begin their 90-day reporting period for calendar year 2011 to demonstrate meaningful use for the Medicare EHR incentive program.
• November 30, 2011 - Last day for eligible hospitals and CAHs to register and attest to receive incentive payment for federal fiscal year 2011.
• December 31, 2011 - Calendar 2011 payment year ends for eligible providers/clinics.

As a Regional Extension Center (REC) contractor, CRHC will continue to assist participating hospitals and clinics with information and assistance on how to attest and qualify for incentive payments. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Tracy McDonald at tm@coruralhealth.org.

Up to $50,000 in grant money available in 2011 through the Colorado Rural Health Care Grant Program!

There is up to $50,000 in grant money available in 2011 for RURAL outpatient primary care providers that can be used to support adoption of EHR. The 2011 Colorado Rural Health Care Grant Council recently released a Request for Application for the Colorado Rural Health Care Grant Program.

This program funds projects that support Colorado’s rural health infrastructure and strengthen the capacity of rural entities to provide primary care services. EHR purchases that support reaching meaningful use are eligible and working with a CO-REC partner is a requirement to receive funding. Click here for more information about this opportunity.

CO-REC Unveils List of Approved Electronic Health Record Products

CRHC, a Colorado Regional Extension Center (CO-REC) partner, is pleased to announce the unveiling of CO-REC’s first approved EHR vendor list. Colorado clinics confused about which electronic health record (EHR) system to buy can turn to their specific REC provider and CO-REC, which announced today its first list of 14 approved EHR integration products. CO-REC’s selected vendors have ONC-ATCB certified EHR products that met a series of rigorous technical and cost criteria.

CO-REC and CORHIO developed this list to help providers as they sort through the frustrating process of vendor and product selection. CO-REC’s selected products provide everything a provider needs to meet current meaningful use criteria as well as to be well positioned for future, more advanced criteria. CRHC will be working directly with CORHIO to develop a similarly vetted list of vendors for small rural and Critical Access Hospital EHR systems.

The federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is certifying health information technology providers and these providers must meet certain standards. CO-REC and CORHIO incorporated those federal standards and went beyond them to develop requirements specifically focused on Colorado providers’ needs.

CO-REC began by identifying optimal requirements for an EHR, such as being able to integrate lab and hospital data as well as connect to the CORHIO and Quality Health Network Health Information Exchanges. Next, each vendor completed a comprehensive 14-page application requiring detailed information on technical functionality requirements. CO-REC and CORHIO staff then followed up with multiple one-on-one vendor interviews to further clarify system functionality. Finally, vendors agreed to offer reasonable prices for integration services. With its approved vendors, CO-REC has negotiated reasonable fees for this service, and those prices are available to all Colorado physicians.

Because EHR technology is improving rapidly, and the certification process is ongoing, CRHC as a partner in CO-REC will continue to work on the team to re-evaluate this list of current vendors periodically to ensure they are meeting the necessary requirements and will add new vendors from time to time as needed.

For more information on the CO-REC List of Approved EHR products along with a list of approved technology and business services vendors, please visit CORHIO’s website .

Get Registered! – Registration for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program Begins Soon

Registration for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program opens on January 3, 2011. CMS is encouraging Eligible Providers/Clinics and Hospitals to register as soon as possible even if an EHR has not yet been implemented. CMS’ Registration and Attestation page also lists other requirements for incentive payments for both eligible providers/clinics and hospitals.

As a Regional Extension Center (REC) contractor, CRHC will continue to assist participating hospitals and clinics with information and assistance on how to attest and qualify for incentive payments. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Tracy McDonald at tm@coruralhealth.org.

Technology and Business Services Vendors Approved by CORHIO for HIT Services

Primary care providers, rural health clinics, community health centers and other types of small clinics across the state have unique technology and business needs that may not be completely served through the Regional Extension Center (REC) program. CO-REC is looking to provide a list of approved organizations, individuals or consulting firms committed to providing high-quality, cost effective services to providers who are qualified to assist with a variety of healthcare technology or general business services.

To view the current list of approved technology and business services vendors as well the latest information about their Approved Integration Vendor List, please check out the CORHIO CO-REC website.

CMS Issues FAQ on Emergency Department Patients and 'Meaningful Use'

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted a revised Frequently Asked Question document to its website providing hospitals with a choice of which emergency department (ED) patients to consider when demonstrating that they have met the "meaningful use" requirements of the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record incentive programs.

To receive incentive payments and avoid future payment penalties, hospitals must meet a number of metrics, many of which include both inpatient and ED patients in the denominator, such as the share of patients with medications ordered electronically. CMS' decision to provide a choice in which ED patients to consider recognizes that some hospitals prioritized EHR adoption in their EDs, while others focused first on deployments in their inpatient departments.

The first option outlined in the revised FAQ - the "Observation Services method" - is consistent with previous guidance and includes patients admitted directly to inpatient departments, patients presenting to the ED and subsequently admitted, and patients treated in the ED and provided observation services. The new option - the "All ED Visits method" - includes those patients plus patients treated and discharged directly from the ED. The revision responds to feedback from hospitals that the earlier guidance was unclear about which observation services can be counted and that a "plain language reading" of the final rule would allow all ED services to be counted.

According to the FAQ, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals must select one of these two methods for calculating their meaningful use metrics and use the same method for all metrics that apply to both inpatient and ED patients. The two methods are described in the FAQ on CMS' website. "CMS' clarification offers hospitals some flexibility in determining how to account for ED patients," said Chantal Worzala, AHA director of Policy. "This will benefit hospitals as they seek to qualify as meaningful users."

HRSA Health Information Technology and Quality Webinar

"Overview of Meaningful Use Stage 1 Quality Measures for the Safety Net Community"

Thursday December 9th, 2010
2pm to 4pm EST - 12pm to 2pm MST

In July of 2010, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program Final Rule was published. Since the release of the final rule there are many questions that still remain from safety net providers concerning how to become a meaningful user of health information technology (IT) and how to qualify for the CMS Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentives. One area of concern regards the final rule's Meaningful Use Stage 1 clinical quality measures (CQM). In order to receive the program's EHR incentives safety net providers participating in the CMS program will be required to capture and report CQMs to demonstrate they are using health IT in a meaningful way. This webinar will bring together experts on Meaningful Use Stage 1 CQMs to answer the safety net community's questions on this topic. The presenters will cover a variety of aspects on this topic including: an overview of the inpatient and outpatient CQMs and how they pertain to urban and rural safety net providers, as well as the role of the National Quality Forum in endorsing these measures. In addition, the time frame of the webinar will be extended an extra 30 minutes to accommodate participant questions to the presenters. (Registration Info Below)

Presenters Include:
• Seiji Hayashi, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Medical Officer, HRSA's Bureau of Primary Healthcare
• Thomas Tsang, M.D., M.P.H., Medical Director, Meaningful Use, The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
• Helen Burstin, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Vice President for Performance Measures of The National. Quality Forum

Registration Info:
Event address for attendees: https://ohit.webex.com/ohit/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=993728097
Event number: 993 728 097
Event Password: portal

Any questions and comments can be sent to HRSA's Health IT mailbox at healthit@hrsa.gov.

CMS/HRSA Low Income Health Access Open Door Forum

Date: Wednesday, December 14, 2010
2:00 PM- 3:00 PM Eastern Time (ET) / 12:00 PM-1:00 PM Mountain Time (MT)

The Forum addresses the concerns of the beneficiary advocates, providers, and information intermediaries throughout the country interested in improving access to Medicare and Medicaid for lower income Americans. Generally, CMS addresses new guidance or initiatives in programs for people with low-incomes, such as the Medicaid and SCHIP programs; information on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, as well as the low-income subsidy. Services settings such as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Community Health Centers (CHCs) and 340(b) Hospitals and other providers are also often discussed. CMS and HRSA co-host this forum.

Open Door Forum Agenda
1. Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program - Audrey Yowell, National Program Director, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, HRSA
2. Updates on the status of HIT-Meaningful Use implementation related to safety net providers, CMS
3. Questions from participants on the call

Conference Leaders: Patti Unruh (Intergovernmental Relations Group, OEABS, CMS), and Alex Ross (HRSA).

Open Door Forum Participation Instructions:

This call is Conference Call Only.
To participate by phone:
Dial: 1-800-837-1935 & Reference Conference ID: 23018348
Please dial-in at least 15 minutes prior to call start time.

**Persons participating by phone are not required to RSVP**

TTY Communications Relay Services are available for the Hearing Impaired. For TTY services dial 7-1-1 or 1-800-855-2880. A Relay Communications Assistant will help.