October 3 is the Last Day for Eligible Professionals to Begin their 90-Day Reporting Period for 2011

The last day that eligible professionals (EPs) can begin their 90-day reporting period in calendar year (CY) 2011 for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program is October 3, 2011. For EPs, this means that they must begin their consecutive 90-day reporting period by October 3 in order to attest to meeting meaningful use and be eligible to receive an incentive payment for CY 2011.

For EPs who have already completed their reporting period, CMS has a number of tools available to help prepare for attestation. EPs can use the CMS Eligible Professional Attestation Worksheet to record their meaningful use measures to have as a reference when attesting for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in CMS' web-based Registration and Attestation System. The Meaningful Use Attestation Calculator and Attestation User Guide for Eligible Professionals can also help EPs to successfully attest to meeting meaningful use.

CMS encourages EPs not to miss the opportunity to participate in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program this year. Begin your reporting period by October 3rd to get on the path to payment for CY 2011.

Transcripts, Presentations, and Audio Files from CMS' Two National Provider Calls on the EHR Incentive Programs

Materials from two of this summer’s CMS National Provider Calls are now online!

CMS’ National Provider Call on July 14, 2011, “Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Basics for Eligible Professionals,” provided basic information on the Incentive Programs for eligible professionals, and answered the following questions:

• Who is eligible?
• How much are the incentives and how are they calculated?
• How does one get started?
• What are major milestones regarding participation and payment?
• How does one report on meaningful use?
• Where can helpful resources be found?

CMS’ National Provider Call on August 18, 2011, “Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program: Understanding Meaningful Use,” provided information about the meaningful use requirements of the EHR Incentive Programs, and covered the following topic areas:

• Defining "meaningful use"
• The requirements for Stage 1 of meaningful use (2011 and 2012)
• Attestation for meaningful use
• Goals of the Meaningful Use Objectives Specification Sheets
o Stage 1 EHR Meaningful Use Specification Sheets for Eligible Professionals
o Stage 1 EHR Meaningful Use Specification Sheets for Eligible Hospitals
• Question & answer session

Materials from these calls are now available, and include each of the call’s presentations, transcripts, and audio recordings. Materials from both of these calls can be found under the Presentations for Providers section on the Educational Materials page of the CMS EHR Website.

** Please note these are large files and will take some time to open in your browser. **

THE Consortium September Webinar: EHR Policies and Procedures

Join us for our next webinar, EHR Policies and Procedures: Important Meaningful Use and Incentive program updates next Thursday, September 22nd from 12:00pm - 1:15pm MDT.

We will begin a series on best practice policies and procedures needed once an Electronic Health Record is implemented. We will also provide an update on Meaningful Use objectives and incentive payments!

To register for this webinar, click here.

Find Out if You Are Prepared For Version 5010

Summer is coming to an end, and the Version 5010 transition deadline is now only four months away! As the January 1, 2012 deadline approaches, your transition should be well underway. There are certain steps CMS recommends to be taking now during the fall to make sure you are on track for a smooth transition. If you missed the Consortium's June webinar discussing 5010 preparation, you can listen to the archive webinar by contacting tm@coruralhealth.org, or be sure to join our Consortium webinar November 17 which will repeat the June webinar to hear more details on how you should be preparing.

If you are a provider, you should:

• Continue external testing and making any revisions to systems based on previous internal testing
  


• Test those transactions that are used on a daily basis, such as claims and eligibility determinations

If you are a vendor, you should:

• Continue to conduct external trading partner testing of Version 5010 with customers to achieve Level II compliance



• Conduct solution rollout and provide customer support for the Version 5010 transition through the January 1, 2012 compliance date

Keep Up to Date on Version 5010 and ICD-10.
For more information visit the CMS website. Please visit Version 5010 for the most current information on all 5010 issues and visit CMS ICD-10 for the latest news and resources on ICD-10 to help you prepare!

USDA Community Facilities Loan and Grant Program

Community Programs, a division of the Housing and Community Facilities Programs, is part of the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development mission area. Community Programs administers programs designed to develop essential community facilities for public use in rural areas. These facilities include schools, libraries, childcare, hospitals, medical clinics, assisted living facilities, fire and rescue stations, police stations, community centers, public buildings and transportation. Through its Community Programs, the Department of Agriculture is striving to ensure that such facilities are readily available to all rural communities. Community Programs utilizes three flexible financial tools to achieve this goal: the Community Facilities Direct and Guaranteed Loan Program, the Community Facilities Grant Program, and the Rural Community Development Initiative.

Community Programs provides grants to assist in the development of essential community facilities in rural areas and towns of up to 20,000 in population. Grants are authorized on a graduated scale. Applicants located in small communities with low populations and low incomes will receive a higher percentage of grants. Grants are available to public entities such as municipalities, counties, and special-purpose districts, as well as non-profit corporations and tribal governments. Loans and guarantees are available to public entities such as municipalities, counties, and special-purpose districts, as well as to non-profit corporations and tribal governments.

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis through USDA-RD field offices. Read more about the grant program here.

CRHC Receives Rural Health Information Technology Network Development Funding

CRHC, in partnership with Spanish Peaks Regional Health Center in Walsenburg, CO and several other Critical Access Hospitals across the state, was awarded one of 40 Rural Health Information Technology Network Development (RHITND) Awards on Sept. 1, 2011. The three-year Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) funding will be used to develop a virtual data center network and IT staff support consortium for rural providers across the state. This has been a long-standing goal for CRHC's strategic plan driven by the Board, leadership, and rural members. Through this data center consortium, large economies of scale will be realized to greatly reduce costs and support adoption and ongoing operations of health information technology across rural healthcare facilities.

Congratulations to Telluride Medical Center Foundation in Telluride, CO who was also awarded funding. To view the full HHS release and list of awardees, click here. To learn more about this funding or to see how your facility can participate, please contact Cari Fouts at cf@coruralhealth.org.