Posts tagged HITECH
CMS Determined To Simplify Collections Of “Meaningful Use” Incentives For Providers
Aug 23rd
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the expansion of its Medicare Provider Enrollment system. The expansion will make it easier for physicians and medical practices to register for Medicare and take advantage of the “meaningful use” incentives offered under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act).
Under the HITECH Act, providers that can demonstrate “meaningful use” of a certified EHR will become eligible for substantial bonuses (in excess of $44,000). To qualify for the bonuses, providers must satisfy 15 core requirements and an additional 5 requirements that they can choose from a “menu” of 10. Hospitals must comply with 14 core requirements and an additional 5 “menu” requirements in order to qualify.
CMS has provided a $1.6 million contract to CGI Federal, Inc. to develop the necessary supplementary functions for its Internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS), which manages, tracks, and validates the enrollment of providers and suppliers in the Medicare program. The Internet-based PECOS replaces the CMS paper enrollment application and enables providers to view or change enrollment information,
track enrollment applications through the web submission process, add or change a reassignment of benefits, submit changes to existing Medicare enrollment information, reactivate an existing enrollment record and withdraw from the Medicare Program. According to the Federal Business Opportunities website, the modification of the PECOS system will take about 10 months.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the final rule on what constitutes “meaningful use” of an EHR in mid-July. View the final rule.
View MTBC’s free webinar on the final “meaningful use” requirements.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Releases the Final Rule on “Meaningful Use” of Electronic Health Records
Jul 2nd
On July 13, 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the long-awaited final rule on what constitutes “meaningful use” of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. With the release of the final rule, healthcare providers now have a clearer picture of the requirements they must satisfy in order to earn substantial incentives under the HITECH Act.
The Act, which was implemented as part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), provides incentive bonuses in excess of $44,000 for physicians that are able to show “meaningful use” of certified EHR technology. Providers that fail to successfully implement EHRs in their offices will eventually become subject to penalties under the Act.
The final rule differs from the proposed rule issued last January in that it allows providers more flexibility in choosing which measures to utilize in order to meet “meaningful use” requirements. Under the final rule, physicians are required to comply with a set of 15 core objectives during the first year (or Stage 1) of adoption. Hospitals are required to comply with 14 core objectives during Stage 1. During Stage 2 of adoption, both physicians and hospitals will have to choose 5 more objectives from a selection of 10 in order to achieve “meaningful use.” The final rule also reduced the number of electronic prescriptions a physician is required to make from 75% to 40%.
MTBC will continue to work closely with our clients to ensure that they are using MTBC EMR 4.0 in a manner that will qualify them for the bonuses available under the HITECH Act. We will also offer clients a free webinar that will provide a comprehensive overview of the “meaningful use” requirements as they are defined under the final rule. The webinar will be presented by Muhammad Chebli, Vice President of Information Technology, on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. If you are interested in attending, please register by clicking here.
The webinar will be offered as a continuation of MTBC’s free, EHR-focused webinar series. Full reproductions of previous webinars can be accessed at http://www.mtbc.com/hitech.aspx.
The final rule on “meaningful use” can be accessed online at http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2010-17207_PI.pdf.
A helpful explanation of the final rule is available here.