In a comment letter sent Friday, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives stressed the importance of ensuring that the electronic health record certification process can adequately handle the demand to certify EHR systems, Healthcare IT News reports (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 4/30).
CHIME also said EHR systems that receive certification under the temporary certification program being established this year should be able to have that certification carry over to the permanent program that will be established in 2012 (Goedert, Health Data Management, 4/30).
The comments are in response to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on EHR certification.
CHIME also recommended that ONC:
* Ensure that the certification program has the capacity to handle demand;
* Focus on EHR certification before expanding to other technologies (Healthcare IT News, 4/30);
* Provide details on how it will coordinate the EHR testing and certification process with the National Institute of Standards and Technology;
* Explain what constitutes a self-developed EHR;
* Require vendors to disclose what functions their products are certified to perform and any known compatibility issues; and
* Give vendors adequate time to recertify their products if a certifying body loses its authority to certify products (Health Data Management, 4/30).
Above article publish on http://www.myemrstimulus.com/chime-offers-input-electronic-health-record-certification-plans/
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Webinar: Leadership is crucial in e-prescribing initiatives
Leadership and vision are crucial for an e-prescribing initiative because effective leadership is necessary to build commitment across a team, according to Diane R. Jones, JD, vice president of policy and programs at e-Health Initiative during an informational webinar on the current and future states of e-prescribing.
“The staff needs to be open to change and appreciate the benefits of [e-prescribing], but the leadership is going to be crucial [as well as] what the team hopes to accomplish through e-prescribing and that vision should encompass an understanding of the functionality and the benefits offered by e-prescribing,” stated Jones.
The webinar, sponsored by health organization Open Health IT Exchange, sought to teach attendees about the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA), the HITECH Act and related facts surrounding incentives, penalties, timelines and qualified system definitions.
Jones, quoting a 2009 report from e-prescribing company Surescripts, stated that approximately 85 percent of community pharmacies in the U.S. are connected for prescription routing and the number of prescribers routing prescriptions electronically has grown from 74,000 to 156,000.
To give context and clarity, Jones defined e-prescribing as the transmission of electronic media of prescription or prescription related information between a prescriber, dispenser, pharmacy benefit manager or health plan, either directly or through an intermediary including an e-prescribing network.
One challenge of deploying e-prescribing for Sidney Clinic in Sidney, Mont., is that the facilitiy’s e-prescribing application currently doesn’t have “cancelation” or “change in medication directions” options, said Pam McGlothilin, clinical information systems coordinator at Sidney Clinic. To provide a peer prespective, McGlothilin noted that their faciltiy, which serves a region of 5,000 people, currently has five providers using e-prescribing to order 50-75 prescriptions a day.
McGlothilin noted that most pharmacies in her region support e-prescribing and that within a 50 mile radius, 15 pharmacies will accept e-prescriptions. Anecdotally, McGlothilin said that e-prescribing has been helpful in that it is faster than faxing orders so providers are more prone to use the system, especially with electronic refill requests.
“Our practice has benefited by doing this earilier; once meaningful use comes out…we’ll be ahead of the curve,” said McGlothilin, who added that within the coming weeks, a cancelation button option will be added to the e-prescribing system.
In addition to assessing organizational readiness and defining practice needs, Jones stated that when following through with an e-prescribing initiative, the provider should also evaluate the costs and financing of a system and undergo a peer review or test a system before deploying it.
E-prescribing will be a key component of meaningful use requirements, according Michelle Allender-Smith, RN, nurse consultant/government task lead for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Any medical professional defined as “eligible” by CMS may participate to receive MIPPA incentives, Allender-Smith noted.
In July of 2008, Congress passed MIPPA in an effort to prevent mandated cuts in Medicare payment to physicians for approved services, stated Allender-Smith. In October of 2008, the five-year e-prescribing incentive program was implemented to provide eligible professionals with incentive payments each year, if they meet requirements for being a successful e-prescriber.
Allender-Smith stated that a qualified system should be able to:
* Generate a complete active medication list (with information from pharmacy benefit management organizations or pharmacies if available);
* Select medications, print prescriptions, transmit prescriptions electronically using the applicable standards, and warn the prescriber of possible undesirable or unsafe situations;
* Provide information on lower-cost, therapeutically-appropriate alternatives; and
* Provide information on formulary or tiered formulary medications, patient eligibility and authorization requirements received electronically from the patient’s drug plan.
Each incentive payment is based on the covered professional services furnished by an eligible professional during the reporting period (one year) which began in January 2009. The last reporting period will be in 2013, added Allender-Smith.
However, because eligible professionals cannot both receive Medicare and Medicaid HITECH Act incentive payments, beginning in 2011 providers must decide between MIPAA and HITECH Act incentives, according to Allender-Smith.
Those that choose not to adopt an e-prescribing system by the year 2012 will be subject to a payment differential, in which their fee schedule payments will be reduced for each year after, stated Allender-Smith.
Allender-Smith also noted that there is a current Interim Final Rule (IFR) published in the March 31 Federal Registar on providing a mechanism that supports e-prescribing on controlled substances. The IFR is currently in a 60-day public comment period but because it is a “major rule,” Allender-Smith it is subject to congressional review. Therefore, its effective date could be delayed.
Above article publish on http://www.eprescriptionservices.com/webinar-leadership-crucial-eprescribing-initiatives/
“The staff needs to be open to change and appreciate the benefits of [e-prescribing], but the leadership is going to be crucial [as well as] what the team hopes to accomplish through e-prescribing and that vision should encompass an understanding of the functionality and the benefits offered by e-prescribing,” stated Jones.
The webinar, sponsored by health organization Open Health IT Exchange, sought to teach attendees about the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA), the HITECH Act and related facts surrounding incentives, penalties, timelines and qualified system definitions.
Jones, quoting a 2009 report from e-prescribing company Surescripts, stated that approximately 85 percent of community pharmacies in the U.S. are connected for prescription routing and the number of prescribers routing prescriptions electronically has grown from 74,000 to 156,000.
To give context and clarity, Jones defined e-prescribing as the transmission of electronic media of prescription or prescription related information between a prescriber, dispenser, pharmacy benefit manager or health plan, either directly or through an intermediary including an e-prescribing network.
One challenge of deploying e-prescribing for Sidney Clinic in Sidney, Mont., is that the facilitiy’s e-prescribing application currently doesn’t have “cancelation” or “change in medication directions” options, said Pam McGlothilin, clinical information systems coordinator at Sidney Clinic. To provide a peer prespective, McGlothilin noted that their faciltiy, which serves a region of 5,000 people, currently has five providers using e-prescribing to order 50-75 prescriptions a day.
McGlothilin noted that most pharmacies in her region support e-prescribing and that within a 50 mile radius, 15 pharmacies will accept e-prescriptions. Anecdotally, McGlothilin said that e-prescribing has been helpful in that it is faster than faxing orders so providers are more prone to use the system, especially with electronic refill requests.
“Our practice has benefited by doing this earilier; once meaningful use comes out…we’ll be ahead of the curve,” said McGlothilin, who added that within the coming weeks, a cancelation button option will be added to the e-prescribing system.
In addition to assessing organizational readiness and defining practice needs, Jones stated that when following through with an e-prescribing initiative, the provider should also evaluate the costs and financing of a system and undergo a peer review or test a system before deploying it.
E-prescribing will be a key component of meaningful use requirements, according Michelle Allender-Smith, RN, nurse consultant/government task lead for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Any medical professional defined as “eligible” by CMS may participate to receive MIPPA incentives, Allender-Smith noted.
In July of 2008, Congress passed MIPPA in an effort to prevent mandated cuts in Medicare payment to physicians for approved services, stated Allender-Smith. In October of 2008, the five-year e-prescribing incentive program was implemented to provide eligible professionals with incentive payments each year, if they meet requirements for being a successful e-prescriber.
Allender-Smith stated that a qualified system should be able to:
* Generate a complete active medication list (with information from pharmacy benefit management organizations or pharmacies if available);
* Select medications, print prescriptions, transmit prescriptions electronically using the applicable standards, and warn the prescriber of possible undesirable or unsafe situations;
* Provide information on lower-cost, therapeutically-appropriate alternatives; and
* Provide information on formulary or tiered formulary medications, patient eligibility and authorization requirements received electronically from the patient’s drug plan.
Each incentive payment is based on the covered professional services furnished by an eligible professional during the reporting period (one year) which began in January 2009. The last reporting period will be in 2013, added Allender-Smith.
However, because eligible professionals cannot both receive Medicare and Medicaid HITECH Act incentive payments, beginning in 2011 providers must decide between MIPAA and HITECH Act incentives, according to Allender-Smith.
Those that choose not to adopt an e-prescribing system by the year 2012 will be subject to a payment differential, in which their fee schedule payments will be reduced for each year after, stated Allender-Smith.
Allender-Smith also noted that there is a current Interim Final Rule (IFR) published in the March 31 Federal Registar on providing a mechanism that supports e-prescribing on controlled substances. The IFR is currently in a 60-day public comment period but because it is a “major rule,” Allender-Smith it is subject to congressional review. Therefore, its effective date could be delayed.
Above article publish on http://www.eprescriptionservices.com/webinar-leadership-crucial-eprescribing-initiatives/
Monday, May 3, 2010
Medical records system benefits from stimulus funds
By Liv Osby
Stimulus money to the tune of $5.6 million was awarded to Health Sciences South Carolina with a goal of getting 1,000 primary care doctors in the state to adopt the new electronic medical records system.
The funds will be used to set up a regional program called the Center for Information Technology Implementation Assistance. HSSC worked with the state Department of Health and Human Services to develop a statewide strategy for forging ahead with EMR.
“CITIA-SC will play a key role in supporting medical professionals throughout the state as they adopt and expand health information technologies in their practices,” said DHHS Director Emma Forkner.
DHHS spokesman Jeff Stensland said the University of South Carolina estimates about 60 percent of physician practices and 42 percent of hospitals have fully-integrated EMRs.
DHHS recently got a $9 million grant for its statewide health information exchange, which gives hospitals, doctors, clinics and other health care providers access to medical records.
HSSC is a partnership between universities and hospitals in the state to foster economic growth and improve health.
Above article publish on http://www.myemrstimulus.com/medical-records-system-benefits-stimulus-funds/
Stimulus money to the tune of $5.6 million was awarded to Health Sciences South Carolina with a goal of getting 1,000 primary care doctors in the state to adopt the new electronic medical records system.
The funds will be used to set up a regional program called the Center for Information Technology Implementation Assistance. HSSC worked with the state Department of Health and Human Services to develop a statewide strategy for forging ahead with EMR.
“CITIA-SC will play a key role in supporting medical professionals throughout the state as they adopt and expand health information technologies in their practices,” said DHHS Director Emma Forkner.
DHHS spokesman Jeff Stensland said the University of South Carolina estimates about 60 percent of physician practices and 42 percent of hospitals have fully-integrated EMRs.
DHHS recently got a $9 million grant for its statewide health information exchange, which gives hospitals, doctors, clinics and other health care providers access to medical records.
HSSC is a partnership between universities and hospitals in the state to foster economic growth and improve health.
Above article publish on http://www.myemrstimulus.com/medical-records-system-benefits-stimulus-funds/
Friday, April 30, 2010
EHR Use Thought To Help Boost Adoption of Telehealth Initiatives
Growing adoption of electronic health records is expected to complement and boost the use of telehealth initiatives across the country, InformationWeek reports.
Health care organizations are planning to deploy telehealth programs to increase access:
* To certain specialists;
* For patients with conditions that prevent them from traveling; and
* During patient transport, since some conditions require treatment while patients are in transit.
Greater use of EHRs will provide remote specialists with more detailed data about patients. Digital medical images, ranging from picture-archiving systems to digital cameras, also can provide more information to providers.
InformationWeek described several telehealth initiatives, including:
* The use of telemedicine gear — including videos and digital stethoscopes — to help physicians treat pediatric patients in transit to hospitals in the area in and around Cincinnati, Ohio;
* Telestroke, an application that links hospitals without stroke specialists to specialists at other hospitals; and
* An effort to offer telehealth services to employees on-site at company facilities (Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek, 4/27).
Above article publish on http://www.ehrexperts.us/ehr-use-thought-to-help-boost-adoption-of-telehealth-initiatives/
Health care organizations are planning to deploy telehealth programs to increase access:
* To certain specialists;
* For patients with conditions that prevent them from traveling; and
* During patient transport, since some conditions require treatment while patients are in transit.
Greater use of EHRs will provide remote specialists with more detailed data about patients. Digital medical images, ranging from picture-archiving systems to digital cameras, also can provide more information to providers.
InformationWeek described several telehealth initiatives, including:
* The use of telemedicine gear — including videos and digital stethoscopes — to help physicians treat pediatric patients in transit to hospitals in the area in and around Cincinnati, Ohio;
* Telestroke, an application that links hospitals without stroke specialists to specialists at other hospitals; and
* An effort to offer telehealth services to employees on-site at company facilities (Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek, 4/27).
Above article publish on http://www.ehrexperts.us/ehr-use-thought-to-help-boost-adoption-of-telehealth-initiatives/
Transcription Association Releases Highly Anticipated Compliance and Practice Guidelines for Healthcare Documentation and Speech Recognition Adoption
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Industry best practices, corporate transparency, and legal compliance will be the major topics of discussion at the 21st Annual Conference of the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) April 28 through May 1 in Daytona Beach, Florida. MTIA and its partner organization, the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), will announce the completion of their Manual of Ethical Best Practices for the Healthcare Documentation Sector at the conference and use the event as an opportunity to highlight the importance of best practices to the future success of the medical transcription industry and profession. Additionally, a speech recognition adoption guide will be released to address the relevance of speech recognition technology as an evolving method of clinical documentation and to present operational and fiscal implications for technology adoption.
Heightened privacy and security requirements, increased calls for transparency of operations, greater reliance on speech recognition technologies, and a growing home-based workforce prompted the need to release these best practice guides. “With the emerging demand from healthcare delivery for increased standardization and greater specificity around exchange of health information, it is time for the healthcare documentation sector to look closely at its compliance practices and at evolving technologies to capture and deliver health information safely and securely,” states MTIA 2010 Board of Directors Chairperson Eileen Dwyer. “We want to be a resource for business owners and users of our services in developing best practices that reflect high-integrity business practices and promote transparency around key issues that reflect well on the industry as a whole.”
The Speech Recognition Adoption Guide is designed to help consumers understand adoption-related issues, impact, terminology, standards, and metrics. In addition, the guide presents unified perspectives of the varying stakeholder groups concerning issues such as documentation quality and risk management.
About MTIA
The Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) is the world’s largest trade association serving medical transcription service organizations.
About AHDI
The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), is the world’s largest professional society representing the clinical documentation sector whose purpose is to set and uphold standards for education and practice in the field of health data capture and documentation.
Above article publish on http://www.medicaltranscriptionoutsource.com/transcription-association-releases-highly-anticipated-compliance-practice-guidelines-healthcare-documentation-speech-recognition-adoption/
Heightened privacy and security requirements, increased calls for transparency of operations, greater reliance on speech recognition technologies, and a growing home-based workforce prompted the need to release these best practice guides. “With the emerging demand from healthcare delivery for increased standardization and greater specificity around exchange of health information, it is time for the healthcare documentation sector to look closely at its compliance practices and at evolving technologies to capture and deliver health information safely and securely,” states MTIA 2010 Board of Directors Chairperson Eileen Dwyer. “We want to be a resource for business owners and users of our services in developing best practices that reflect high-integrity business practices and promote transparency around key issues that reflect well on the industry as a whole.”
The Speech Recognition Adoption Guide is designed to help consumers understand adoption-related issues, impact, terminology, standards, and metrics. In addition, the guide presents unified perspectives of the varying stakeholder groups concerning issues such as documentation quality and risk management.
About MTIA
The Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) is the world’s largest trade association serving medical transcription service organizations.
About AHDI
The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), is the world’s largest professional society representing the clinical documentation sector whose purpose is to set and uphold standards for education and practice in the field of health data capture and documentation.
Above article publish on http://www.medicaltranscriptionoutsource.com/transcription-association-releases-highly-anticipated-compliance-practice-guidelines-healthcare-documentation-speech-recognition-adoption/
Simpler medical billing saves $7 billion
BOSTON, April 29 (UPI) — Simplifying and standardizing administrative procedures for medical bills could save about $7 billion a year, U.S. researcher’s estimate.
Bonnie B. Blanchfield of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and colleagues have created a hypothetical model for medical billing that involves a single set of payment rules for multiple payers, a single claim form and standard rules of submission.
If doctors’ offices used the streamlined medical billing system they would save 4 hours a week of physician time and 5 hours a week of staff time, Blanchfield said.
The researchers analyzed the billing system of a physician’s group affiliated with a large, urban, academic teaching hospital. The researchers found 12.6 percent of submitted claims are initially rejected, but 81 percent are eventually paid — after using considerable staff time.
“The savings from reducing administrative complexity could be translated into decreased costs in general,” the study authors said in a statement. “Mandating a single set of rules, a single claim form, standard rules of submission, and transparent payment adjudication-with corresponding savings to both providers and payers-could provide system wide savings that could translate into better care for Americans.”
The findings are published in the journal Health Affairs.
Above article publish on http://www.mymedicalbillingoutsourcing.com/simpler-medical-billing-saves-7-billion/
Bonnie B. Blanchfield of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and colleagues have created a hypothetical model for medical billing that involves a single set of payment rules for multiple payers, a single claim form and standard rules of submission.
If doctors’ offices used the streamlined medical billing system they would save 4 hours a week of physician time and 5 hours a week of staff time, Blanchfield said.
The researchers analyzed the billing system of a physician’s group affiliated with a large, urban, academic teaching hospital. The researchers found 12.6 percent of submitted claims are initially rejected, but 81 percent are eventually paid — after using considerable staff time.
“The savings from reducing administrative complexity could be translated into decreased costs in general,” the study authors said in a statement. “Mandating a single set of rules, a single claim form, standard rules of submission, and transparent payment adjudication-with corresponding savings to both providers and payers-could provide system wide savings that could translate into better care for Americans.”
The findings are published in the journal Health Affairs.
Above article publish on http://www.mymedicalbillingoutsourcing.com/simpler-medical-billing-saves-7-billion/
Research Shows That Electronic Medical Records Save Babies’ Lives
By Rich Silverman
We talk a lot in this blog about the financial aspects of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), and with good reason – they can entail a substantial investment in time and money. But it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of the purpose of all that investment – to save lives.
There has been a great deal of research conducted into how much it will cost to implement an EMR, yet there has not been a lot of research into their impact on patient outcomes. A recent study shows that the adoption of Electronic Medical Records and Radiology Information Systems (RISs) in hospitals in the U.S. actually lowers infant mortality in this country. Research conducted by Amalia Miller of the University of Virginia and Catherine Ticker of MIT’s Sloan School of Business showed that when hospitals adopt EMRs and RISs, their infant mortality rates drop.
Using data on births and infant mortality already collected by the U.S. Government, and statistics on health care information technology adoption provided by the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the researchers compared infant mortality in selected areas of the country where data was available (privacy laws limited that data pool) with the adoption of EMRs and RISs in those same areas.
After correcting for a wide range of variables, the researchers came to the following conclusions:
The adoption of EMRs by one additional hospital in a county reduces infant mortality by 13%.
The average cost of the HIT used to save that baby is about $450,000.
The reduction of infant mortality is twice as great for African-Americans than non-African-Americans.
The median cost to implement EMR in a hospital, according to a 2007 America Hospital Association study was $5,556 in capital costs per bed and $12,060 per bed per year in maintenance costs.
The authors studied “bare-bones” HIT implementations of EMRs, and only looked at the impact on neonatal and infant health outcomes. They suggest that more robust implementations of HIT, including decision-support and computerized physician order entry, as examples, will extend the beneficial effects of HIT to other classes of patients.
This research serves as a gentle reminder that the HITECH Act was intended to provide incentives for physicians and hospitals to implement and use Electronic Medical Records because EMRs will improve patient outcomes and save lives. This research shows that they do.
Above article publish on http://www.emrspecialists.com/2010/04/research-shows-electronic-medical-records-save-babies-lives/
We talk a lot in this blog about the financial aspects of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), and with good reason – they can entail a substantial investment in time and money. But it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of the purpose of all that investment – to save lives.
There has been a great deal of research conducted into how much it will cost to implement an EMR, yet there has not been a lot of research into their impact on patient outcomes. A recent study shows that the adoption of Electronic Medical Records and Radiology Information Systems (RISs) in hospitals in the U.S. actually lowers infant mortality in this country. Research conducted by Amalia Miller of the University of Virginia and Catherine Ticker of MIT’s Sloan School of Business showed that when hospitals adopt EMRs and RISs, their infant mortality rates drop.
Using data on births and infant mortality already collected by the U.S. Government, and statistics on health care information technology adoption provided by the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the researchers compared infant mortality in selected areas of the country where data was available (privacy laws limited that data pool) with the adoption of EMRs and RISs in those same areas.
After correcting for a wide range of variables, the researchers came to the following conclusions:
The adoption of EMRs by one additional hospital in a county reduces infant mortality by 13%.
The average cost of the HIT used to save that baby is about $450,000.
The reduction of infant mortality is twice as great for African-Americans than non-African-Americans.
The median cost to implement EMR in a hospital, according to a 2007 America Hospital Association study was $5,556 in capital costs per bed and $12,060 per bed per year in maintenance costs.
The authors studied “bare-bones” HIT implementations of EMRs, and only looked at the impact on neonatal and infant health outcomes. They suggest that more robust implementations of HIT, including decision-support and computerized physician order entry, as examples, will extend the beneficial effects of HIT to other classes of patients.
This research serves as a gentle reminder that the HITECH Act was intended to provide incentives for physicians and hospitals to implement and use Electronic Medical Records because EMRs will improve patient outcomes and save lives. This research shows that they do.
Above article publish on http://www.emrspecialists.com/2010/04/research-shows-electronic-medical-records-save-babies-lives/
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