Certification Bodies Named

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) and the Drummond Group are the first to be named as Accredited Temporary Certifying Bodies by the Office of the National Coordinator. We can now expect vendors to apply for certification and we can expect the certifying bodies to develop their “testing scripts” for Stage One meaningful use. These scripts will help vendors understand what functionality they must have and demonstrate during their certification test process. We had expected CCHIT to be one of the first approved certifying bodies. There may be several more named in the coming months.

HRSA Webinar: Tips for Conducting Meaningful Use Gap Analysis within the Safety Net Community

Date: Friday, August 27th 2010
Time: 2:00 pm EST

As HRSA grantees and the safety net community work tirelessly to become Meaningful Users of healthcare information technology (IT), it is important for providers to assess their current health IT capabilities and evaluate where their meaningful use gaps exist. By determining these meaningful use gaps, providers, health centers, and clinics can then determine how to plan and what steps are necessary for them to become meaningful users of health IT and qualify for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Electronic Health Record Incentive Program. The presenters below will provide tips on how HRSA grantees and the safety net community can evaluate and conduct meaningful use gap analysis. The presenters on this webinar come from a health center, rural health center, and health center controlled network and will present on their experiences and tips regarding this topic.

Registration Info:

Event address for attendees: https://fedgov.webex.com/fedgov/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=996765974
Password: portal

Consortium Webinar this Thursday: EHR Meaningful Use & Incentive Funding - Understanding the Final Rule

Join us for the next Consortium webinar this Thursday, August 19th, from 12-1:15 pm MT where we will present the key meaningful use and incentive funding changes released in the CMS final rule in July. Learning objectives include:

1. Understanding the final meaningful use criteria, timelines and requirements
2. Learning what incentive funding is available specific to rural and urban safety net clinics and rural hospitals
3. Determining if your facility will be eligible for incentive funding, what type, and how much
4. Identifying resources available to help you achieve meaningful use

To register for the webinar, click here.

CO-REC Preferred EHR Vendor Application Now Available

The Colorado Regional Extension Center (CO-REC) partners and CORHIO are delighted to announce the posting of the application for Preferred EHR Vendors. The application can be found at http://www.co-rec.org/ located in the Vendor Information section of the website. CORHIO and CO-REC are searching for Approved Integration Vendors for EHR Systems for all Colorado Providers that will meet the criteria critical for health information exchange and meaningful use. After reviewing the application, please send all questions via email to corec@corhio.org. All questions will be answered and posted to the Vendor Information section of the website each Friday, beginning on August 27, 2010.

The application will remain on the CO-REC site for an undetermined amount of time and may be updated periodically based on updates to technology requirements. We look forward to hearing back from vendors on this exciting step towards advancing health information technology for all Colorado providers.

Higher Purpose: What Meaningful Use Means To Nurses

What does “meaningful use” mean to nurses? The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released final rules July 13 outlining the criteria hospitals and eligible providers must meet to be considered meaningful users of health information technology in order to receive their share of $27 billion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Electronic Health Record Incentive Program over the next 10 years. Nursing Spectrum asked Pat Wise, RN, MS, MA, vice president for healthcare information systems at the nonprofit Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, what nurses can expect as the iniative unfolds.

Nursing Spectrum: What is the goal of meaningful use?

Pat Wise: The purpose is five-fold. The first part is to improve quality, safety, efficiency and reduce health disparities. The second purpose is to engage patients and their families (through electronic communication). The third is to improve care coordination. The fourth is to ensure adequate privacy and security protection for personal health information. The fifth is to improve population and public health — that’s (through) data collection and looking at quality data over time.

The meaningful use program will be running for a number of years, and we can expect more regulation regarding meaningful use in 2011 for the 2013 and 2014 meaningful use years. Then we’ll start to see rule making in 2013 for 2015 and beyond.

NS: Was nurse input considered in the rule making?

Wise: Nurse input has been involved in this regulation from the very start. Nursing brings to the conversation a very important voice. Nurses are the voice that is close to patients and consumers. They certainly recognize what patients and consumers need in healthcare.

There are nurses who are members of the federal committees. There also are nurses who participated in responding to the (original) rule during the public comment period.

NS: How is this going to affect nurses on the job?

Wise: I think if nurses currently in their role have electronic health records, what you will see is more collection of the quality data. You might see some enhancements made for some of the meaningful use objectives. Nurses who are working in organizations that do not use electronic medical records might very well see a move toward electronic medical records. Their organization might look toward acquiring more technology and implementing more technology. And I think that nurses who are kind of in between, who work for organizations that have introduced electronic health record technology but that technology is not fully implemented, I suspect they might see an acceleration of the implementation.

NS: How long, on average, does it take to get a department up to speed with this kind of technology?

Wise: That varies from organization to organization, department to department. It depends on how much familiarization the nurses (already) have with the technology. Have they been using a part of it and now are just moving to using some more, so they’re already familiar with some of the base functions? Or is this the first time they’ve seen any electronic medical record technology for nursing care plans, for medication administration, for clinical charting?

Facilities have found to make the transition easier there clearly needs to be very good, strong education prior to the implementation. Nurses can also do their part by making sure they’re available for this education and they’re very participative in this education. Organizations also, as the transition gets near, usually have identified what is known as “super users.” Nurses also can identify super users among themselves who can be used as resources when they’re on duty.

NS: Are nurses going to see a lot of new gadgets, such as hand-held devices, at the bedside?

Wise: You may very well, but meaningful use doesn’t speak to what kind of technology — it speaks to broader certified medical technology. Whether that comes in the form of iPads at the bedside, whether that comes in the form of iPhones at the bedside, whether that’s in the form of computers on wheels at the bedside, or a computer outside the room, or a computer at a centralized nurses’ station, that’s all within the organization and how they choose to roll out technology.

NS: What are some of the ethical concerns for nurses during the implementation?

Wise: As always, doing any implementation of the use of any patient records, whether electronic or not, privacy, security, safety and quality are utmost in the minds of nurses. We still need to remain vigilant.

NS: Do you think this will open new roles for nurses?

Wise: I think the input of nurses is going to be exceptionally valuable and needed as IT and the implementations move through facilities, and nurses who are interested in getting more involved should work with the hospital administration and the IT staff to get more involved.

Natasha Emmons is national news editor.

RHC TA Call on EHR Incentive Payments - Thurs. Aug. 12, 2pm ET

The National Association for Rural Health Clinics (NARHC) is hosting a Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance call at 2:00pm (EASTERN) on Thursday, August 12th. RHC specific information will be presented on the standards for Eligible Professionals (EP) working in RHCs and the meaningful use criteria for all Eligible Professionals to qualify for the incentive payments.

Slides for the program will sent out a few days before the session, or you can request them from info@narhc.org.

To join the conference, dial:

Toll free: 1-866-288-9872
Participant passcode: 680987

If you have a specific question you would like to submit ahead of time to ensure that the subject matter is covered during the presentation, please send it to: info@narhc.org and put ‘RHC TA Question’ in the subject line.

CMS Education Series for Providers on the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invites you to join a series of national provider calls addressing the specifics of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs for hospitals and individual practitioners. Learn the specifics on what you need to participate in the these incentive programs –

• Who is eligible,
• How much are the incentives and how are they calculated,
• What you need to do to get started,
• When the program begins and other major milestones regarding participation and payment,
• How to report on Meaningful Use measures
• Where to find helpful resources and more.

Hear from the experts who wrote the rules! Ask your questions!

EHR Incentive Programs for Eligible Professionals:
A session just for individual practitioners on the specifics about the Medicare & Medicaid EHR incentive program
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
2:00-3:30 pm EST

EHR Incentive Programs for Hospitals:
A session just for hospitals on the specifics about the Medicare & Medicaid EHR incentive program
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
2:00-3:30 pm EST

EHR Questions and Answers for Hospitals and Individual Practitioners:
Have questions? Join this session to have an opportunity to ask a question and hear answers by our panel of experts on the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
2:00-3:30 pm EST

Save the dates! Information on how to register for these calls is forthcoming.

Materials will be made available prior to each training by clicking here.

Cannot attend? A transcript and MP3 file of the call will be available approximately 3 weeks after the call on the CMS website.

Be sure to visit CMS’ web section on the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs to get the latest information.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs: Tip Sheets for Medicare Eligible Professionals, Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs)

Tip Sheets for Eligible Professionals and Hospitals are now available on the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms. Select the Medicare Eligible Professional or Hospital tab on the left, and then scroll to “Downloads.” Available documents include:

• Medicare EHR Incentive Payments for Eligible Professionals
This tip sheet describes which types of individual practitioners can participate in the Medicare EHR incentive program. It provides user friendly information about incentive payment amounts and describes how they are calculated for fee for service and Medicare advantage providers. It also describes payment adjustments beginning in 2015 for EPs who are not meaningful users of certified EHR technology.

• Medicare EHR Incentive Program, PQRI and E-Prescribing Comparison
Learn what opportunities are available to Medicare Eligible Professionals to receive incentive payments for participating in important Medicare initiatives. This fact sheet provides information on eligibility, timeframes, and maximum payments for each program.

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

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