Tips for Using EHRs to Improve Quality of Care and Health Outcomes Webinar

Register Now!

Date: Friday, October 22, 2010
Time: 2:00 pm to 3:30pm ET

As HRSA grantees and the safety net community implement electronic health record systems (EHR), one of the most important issues is how to use this health information technology as a tool for improving quality and patient outcomes. The presenters will illustrate and provide tips in how they use their EHRs and patient data from their EHR systems to provide better quality care to their safety net patients. In addition, the presenters will also address how this subject fits within the scope of “Meaningful Use”. This webinar’s presenters listed below are experienced experts who come from a variety of HRSA grantee perspectives within the safety net community including rural and health center leadership roles within this topic area.

Registration link for attendees: https://fedgov.webex.com/fedgov/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=990202779

Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 1-866-699-3239
Access code: 990 202 779

Presenters:

Richard Kalish, M.D., MPH
Medical Director, Boston HealthNet

Ray Lavoie
Executive Director, Blackstone Valley Community Health Care, Inc

Darlene Bainbirdge
D.D. Bainbridge and Associates Inc.

New Incentive Payment Calculation Tips from CMS

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services EHR Incentive Programs website now has new resources for Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Click on this link to access the resources below: http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms!

• NEW: Medicaid Hospital Incentive Payment Calculations
Which hospitals can participate in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program? Learn about Medicaid patient volume requirements, payment amounts, and the timeframes for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.

• NEW: EHR Incentive Program Timeline

• EHR Incentive Program for Medicare Hospitals
Learn which hospitals are eligible for Medicare incentive payments. (See the separate tip sheet for Critical Access Hospitals below.) This sheet discusses the factors which impact incentive payment amounts and provides sample payment calculations.

• EHR Incentive Program for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs)
How are Medicare incentive payments calculated for CAHs? When can they be earned? Learn more in this informative discussion of the calculation of Medicare incentive payments. Sample calculations are provided. This sheet also provides information on how Medicare reimbursement will be reduced for CAHs which have not demonstrated meaningful use of certified EHR technology by 2015.

To access the resources above, click here, and select the “Hospitals” tab on the left, and then scroll to “Downloads.”

Register Now - Updated Agenda & Scholarships Available- EHR Vendor Selection Symposium

October 13-14, 2010; Red Lion Hotel, Aurora, CO

Don't miss out on an opportunity to simultaneously evaluate some of the top EHR systems available! Registration and scholarships are still available for THE Consortium's one-time-only, one-of-a-kind EHR vendor fair and educational symposium. Vendors will provide information and/or demonstrations of the key functionalities of their software using a “scenario driven” approach specifically tailored to Rural Hospitals, Rural Health Clinics and Community-Funded Safety Net Clinics. The vendors have been hand-selected as the best systems available to fulfill the needs of small clinics and hospitals so you can make a fully-informed, strategic HIT decision. In addition, education on meaningful use criteria, vendor selection, contracting, and negotiation, and HIPAA compliance training will be featured on the agenda.

Vendors demonstrating their product include:
Allscripts
Amrita
Clinic Services
eClinicalWorks
Meditech
NextGen
Raintree
RT Welter

Exhibitors include:
Cerner
Healthland
McKesson
Sage

Thanks to the generosity of COPIC Insurance, we are able to offer 20 scholarships for $50 each to help Rural Health Clinics and Community-Funded Safety Net Clinics cover half of the registration fee to attend. Scholarships are available on a first-come, first-served basis by emailing your name and organization to Sarah Mapes at sm@coruralhealth.org.

REGISTER NOW to reserve your place--only $99 for a two-day event!

The first 33 ONC Meaningful Use EHR approvals Oct 1, 2010

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) announced October 1st that it has tested and certified 33 Electronic Health Record (EHR) products under the Commission’s ONC-ATCB program, which certifies that the EHRs are capable of meeting the 2011/2012 criteria supporting Stage 1 meaningful use as approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Certification is required to qualify eligible providers and hospitals for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The certifications include 19 Complete EHRs, which meet all of the 2011/2012 criteria for either eligible provider or hospital technology, and 14 EHR Modules, which meet one or more – but not all – of the criteria. To access the full story, click here.

Diving Deep into Meaningful Use Webinar This Thursday!

Join us for the next Consortium webinar this Thursday, September 23rd from 12-1:15 pm MT where we will build upon our August webinar where we highlighted high level meaningful use criteria and dive deeper into the rules. Learning objectives include:

• Reviewing the menu set criteria specific to hospitals and clinics
• Begin building your internal roadmap regarding where you are currently and what you should do
• Understand what requirements you will need from your current or potential vendor
  

RHC Physician Incentives Further Clarified

In the HITECH act, primary care providers, including Rural Health Clinics, have two ways to receive funding - through the Medicare incentive payment or the Medicaid incentive payment. To reach the Medicaid incentive payment, RHCs and other practices will need to meet the 30% "Needy" patient threshold which includes all Medicaid, CHP+, and uninsured patients (including sliding fee scale).

Medicare incentives are based on providers reaching a minimum threshold of Medicare charges according to the annual physician fee schedule payment. For RHCs, this means the threshold has to be met out of the annual Part B billing charges since Part A billing is not calculated according to the physician fee schedule. The regulation reads that 75% of allowable charges must equal that year’s incentive payment. For example, the year one incentive payment is $18,000 per eligible provider, so the RHC must have $24,000 in allowable charges for their Medicare Part B payments for that year in order to receive the full $18,000 incentive payment.

We will be further clarifying this issue with CMS and will be discussing the implications of this rule on Colorado's RHCs on our next Consortium Webinar, Sept. 23, from 12-1:15pm.

HRSA HIT & QUALITY WEBINAR "MEANINGFUL USE IMPLEMENTATION IN THE SAFETY NET" FRI, SEPT 17, 12-1:30pm MT

“Strategies for Implementing Meaningful Use within the Safety Net Community”

This is the third HRSA Health IT and Quality technical assistance webinar in the series on Meaningful Use and its impact in the safety net population. This webinar builds on the previous Meaningful Use 101 and Meaningful Use Gap Analysis webinars and focuses on how HRSA grantees are implementing Meaningful Use within the safety net community. The presenters will focus on strategies their health facilities utilize for overcoming barriers and successfully becoming meaningful users of health IT. The presenters are seasoned experts who come from a variety of HRSA grantee perspectives within the safety net community including rural and urban clinical roles within this topic area.

Registration Info:

Event: Meaningful Use III: Tips for Implementing Meaningful Use in the Safety Net Community Date and time: Friday, September 17, 2010 2:00 pm Eastern Time
Duration: 2 hours
Event address for attendees: https://fedgov.webex.com/fedgov/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=996084485
Event password: portal