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The Hawaii EHR Series on the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program – From EHR adoption through to Attesting for Meaningful Use

By admin on 8 September, 2013 in , , ,

Updates to the Hawaii Medicaid EHR Incentive Program

Hawaii’s Medicaid EHR Incentive Program launched this month with two major components: the launch of a provider outreach page (or POP) and an introduction to the Hawaii State Level Registry (SLR).

The POP is meant to be a “one-stop launch pad” for all Medicaid EHR Incentive Program needs and information featuring important dates and deadlines, an eligibility check wizard and news feeds featuring updates on Medicaid and Medicare Services, Healthcare Information Technology and EHR Systems.

The Hawaii SLR itself won’t be open for registration until October 15, 2013. In the meantime, physicians can begin registering with the National Level Registry.

Introducing the Hawaii EHR Series on the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program

medicaidseries

While the Hawaii Medicaid EHR Incentive Program POP provides a good broad resource for registering and keeping up-to-date with government updates on the program and related EHR news, we at Hawaii EHR want to provide detailed and succinct information for physicians interested in jumping on board with an EHR but don’t have the time to dig through the loads of information and data available.

We’re committed to providing well-researched and clear content for Hawaii’s physicians, providing all the necessary information and steps to ultimately receive Medicaid Incentive Payments to offset your costs in adopting and implementing an EHR system for your practice.

That’s why we are launching a series of posts focused on how doctors can understand and make the most of the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program – from EHR adoption, implementation and upgrades (AIU) through to attesting for meaningful use.

Each post will focus on the essentials, giving a brief understanding of the context of the topic (the what), the rationale and meaning behind the topic (the why) as well as the necessary steps (the how) needed to move forward to meaningful use of EHR systems in your practice.

Each week, we will post an informative article for physicians at a particular stage of the EHR AIU process or the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program attestation process.

Next week will feature the first article of the series, Choosing the Right EHR System: What You Need to Know.

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Hawaii’s Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Launching Next Month (September 2013). Here’s why you should prepare to apply now:

By HawaiiEHR on 31 August, 2013 in , ,

doctors-computer

Last month, 3,343 eligible physicians were paid an average of $15,673 through the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. Physicians attesting for adoption, implementation, or an upgrade (AIU) of their EHR system made up slightly more than half of this group and, on average, received a larger amount ($21,028) than those attesting for meaningful use ($8,733). This data comes from the latest Medicaid Monthly EHR Incentive Payment Report for July 2013 by the CMS.

The Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, unlike it’s Medicare counterpart which is federally run, is voluntarily offered by each state or territory. The Medicaid incentive program will be open for participation until 2016 and the incentive payments for eligible professionals are paid over 6 years for a maximum of $63,750. The last year to begin participation and to avoid reimbursement penalties for the Medicare program is next year, 2014. While the Medicare program will make its last incentive payments in 2016, the Medicaid program will offer payments over 6 years starting from the year of registration and first payment (e.g. if you register in 2014, you will be eligible for incentive payments until 2019).

Hawaii will launch it’s Medicaid EHR Incentive Program next month, in September 2013, and will be the second to last state to begin the program. As of August 30, 2013 the dates of the first incentive payment distribution and collection of meaningful use attestations has not yet been specified. Hawaii’s Department of Human Services Med-Quest Division website provides a brief background about the program and promises upcoming details, which we will provide updates for on Hawaii EHR as they come. In the meantime, as you prepare to register and attest, take a look at the Alaska Provider Outreach Page for their State Medicaid EHR Incentive Program here. As the first state to launch the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program (in January 2011) and a nationally recognized leader in advancing the use of health information services, Alaska’s Provider Outreach Page provides a great guide and glimpse into the registration and attestation process.

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PatientTrac EMR in Hawaii

By HawaiiEHR on 1 October, 2012 in , , , ,

For more information, contact Frank Diaz, 808.723.0900 or frank@hawaiiehr.com. For Hawaii implementation of your EHR system, click Patient Trac Hawaii EHR (PDF).

INCREASE YOUR MONTHLY REIMBURSEMENT BY AT LEAST $5,000 PER MONTH PER PHYSICIAN!

Recently, PatientTrac added a number of Rating Scales to provide  the Physician access to quantitative measurable rating scales for patient  evaluation. These rating scales now include United States Army Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome Disorder, Geriatric Depression, Adult and Child ADHD, PTSD,  YBOCS, CGI, YMRS, BPRS, PANNS, Bipolar Disorder Syndrome, QUIDS-SR, Comprehensive Life History, Child Life History and Developmental History and we have included tools to enable the facility or provider to add subsequent rating scales dynamically.

Below overview of the key evaluation components in PatientTrac EMR:

Past Medical History. PatientTrac provides either simple or complex documentation of past medical history, past surgical history, past psychiatric history, and family psychiatric history.

Social History.   PatientTrac’s Social History for Psychiatric is customized to provide complete social history related documentation.

History Present Illness. Dr. Richard M. Bunt was instrumental in his consulting the PatientTrac development staff with the creation of the PatientTrac Psychiatric Review of Systems.

Mental Status Examination. The PatientTrac Mental Status Examination, when used with the Tablet PC, enables quick data entry and a comprehensive EM valuation for the MSE.

Medical Physical Examination. PatientTrac’s physical examination component is an individualized configurable component to comport to the specific requirement of the physician user. The Neurological system includes comprehensive examination components which provide for documentation and testing of each of the cranial nerves.

Assessment and Diagnosis.  PatientTrac includes the DSM-IV and ICD-9 dictionary which can be searched by description, code or chapter for AXIS I, AXIS II and AXIS III data entry. PatientTrac tracks the highest 12 month GAF for automatic entry of the highest GAF scale for each subsequent visit.

Laboratory and Orders.  PatientTrac’s orders components allow for printed or electronic submission of lab or radiology testing, complete with the appropriate CPT Code and Diagnosis to support the test.

Medication and Prescription Component.  PatientTrac uses the Federal Drug Administration database for its medication data structure. PatientTrac allows entry of previous/past psychiatric medications, current medications prescribed by all providers, and allows for management of medications to document changes, discontinue, refills and new prescriptions. PatientTrac ensures the physician has the most up to date record of all patient medications when making the determination of prescriptions. The PatientTrac Medication and Prescription component tracks and manages the patients Current Medications, Past Medication History, Active Medications, Electronic Prescriptions, Facsimile Prescriptions and printed prescriptions. PatientTrac alerts the physician of the patient’s last recorded visit at the practice and the next scheduled appointment in order to inform the physician of refills for patients who are not keeping or making their follow-up visits and who have not been seen within the practice’s predefined visit protocol. Our Medication component has electronic patient education for each of the medication(s) prescribed, including the ability to enter the patient’s electronic signature. Thus, evidencing the patient has discussed and has been provided with the education regarding the particular medications.

CMS Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) 2010 sample criteria for quality measure “Depression” includes the CPT codes for:
• Encounter Outpatient BH (90804-90815, 98960-98962, 99078, 99201-99205, 99211-99215, 99217-99220, 99241-99245, 99341-99345, 99347-99350, 99384-99387, 99394-99397, 99401-99404, 99408, 99409, 99411, 99412, 99510)
• Encounter Outpatient BH (requires Point of Service modifier) (90801, 90802, 90816-90819, 90821-90824, 90826- 90829, 90845, 90847, 90849, 90853, 90857, 90862, 90875, 90876, 99221-99223, 99231-99233, 99238, 99239, 99251-99255)
• Encounter Point of Service Modifier (03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 22, 33, 49, 50,52, 53, 57, 71, 72)
• Physician E & M Visit Nursing Facility Care (99304-99310 and 99315-99318)
• Physician E&M – Domicilliary, Rest Home, Boarding Home, Custodial Care

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Important Changes For Surescripts Submissions Through EClinicalWorks

By HawaiiEHR on 27 March, 2012 in ,

Surescripts New Computer Generated (CG) Fax Policy

According to the Surescripts New Computer Generated (CG) Fax Policy communication Important_Changes_for_Surescripts_Submissions_through_eClinicalWorks_March_2012® (www.surescripts.com), format changes for submission will change:
Our analysis of faxable error messages on the Surescripts network indicates that some error conditions are analogous to the transient/temporary network transmission failures mentioned in the CY 2009 CMS PFS rule cited above. Thus, Surescripts will continue to convert these faxable errors (i.e., error code 6001) into CG‐faxes indefinitely. On the other hand, Surescripts has determined that the remaining faxable‐error message types (i.e., error code 9002) are not analogous to transient/temporary network transmission failures, so Surescripts will discontinue the conversion of these error types into CG‐faxes in order to be in compliance with CMS rule. Surescripts will implement the changes necessary to terminate the conversion of these latter types of faxable‐error messages on 03/28/2012 (CMS is aware that we will be taking additional time to implement this phase out).
(Source: Surescripts New Computer Generated (CG) Fax Policy – December15, 2011)
As a result, data entry formatting within eClinicalWorks must align with these new standards to avoid error messages and failed submissions. This notice expands on the Surescripts Directory Update communication distributed to all eClinicalWorks e-prescribing_primer clients in September 2011. To review this earlier document, log on to my.eclinicalworks.com and click the Documents menu, and then click the Notifications tab.

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Meaningful Use Stage 2 Notice of Proposed Rule-Making

By HawaiiEHR on 16 March, 2012 in , , ,

How to Attain Meaningful Use With Your EHR

ONC is seeking feedback through the Stage 2 rule on how to increase patient safety through updated certification criteria, how to improve data portability, and how to increase price transparency with regard to certified Complete EHRs or EHR Modules.

ONC Proposed Rule:

CMS Proposed Rule:

Meaningful Use Definition & Objectives

Meaningful Use Defined

Meaningful use is using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to:

  • Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities
  • Engage patients and family
  • Improve care coordination, and population and public health
  • Maintain privacy and security of patient health information

Ultimately, it is hoped that the meaningful use compliance will result in:

  • Better clinical outcomes
  • Improved population health outcomes
  • Increased transparency and efficiency
  • Empowered individuals
  • More robust research data on health systems

Meaningful use sets specific objectives that eligible professionals (EPs) and hospitals must achieve to qualify for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Incentive Programs.

Stages of Meaningful Use

These objectives will evolve in three stages over the next five years:

  1. 2011-2012

    Stage 1 –  Data capture and sharing

  2. 2013

    Stage 2 – Advance clinical processes

  3. 2015

    Stage 3 – Improved outcomes

Stage 1 EHR Meaningful Use Specification Sheets
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers theMedicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, provides these sheets to help professionals and hospitals understand the requirements of each objective and demonstrate meaningful use successfully.

Your meaningful use check is waiting for you.  Avoid the bottleneck. Avoid penalties or loss of incentives.

Why wait on setting up or configuring up your EHR system?

Call 808.723.0900 or email (frank@HawaiiEHR.com)

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Six Additional States Launch Medicaid EHR Payment Programs

By HawaiiEHR on 15 November, 2011 in , , ,

Six More States Launched Medicaid EHR Payment Programs

States may voluntarily offer the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program to their Medicaid eligible professionals and eligible hospitals. This CMS page provides resources for states to understand the program and learn more about what is required to offer the programs.

CMS registration opens in the following states on November 7, 2011:

For more information about expected Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs see State EHR Incentive Program Launch Times and HIT Websites .

Health IT Documents

To qualify to receive 90% federal matching funds for administering the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, states must develop:

  • Health Information Technology Planning Advance Planning Document (HIT PAPD) – A plan of action that requests federal matching funds and approval to accomplish the planning necessary for a state agency to determine the need for and plan the acquisition of HIT equipment, services, or both.
  • State Medicaid Health Information Technology Plan (SMHP) – A document that describes the state’s current and future Health IT activities, as well as the path between, in support of the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program (see the SMHP template in the “Downloads” section below).
  • Health Information Technology Implementation Advance Planning Document (HIT IAPD) – A plan of action that requests federal matching funds and approval to acquire and implement the proposed SMHP services, equipment, or both.
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Patient-Centered Medical Home

By HawaiiEHR on 13 November, 2011 in ,

NCQA’s Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) 2011

The PCMH 2011 Brochure is now available online.  PCMH Recognition is based on meeting specific elements included in six standard categories.
1. Enhance Access and Continuity: Accommodate patients’ needs with access and advice during and after hours, give patients and their families information about their medical home and provide patients with team-based care

2. Identify and Manage Patient Populations: Collect and use data for population management

3. Plan and Manage Care: Use evidence-based guidelines for preventive, acute and chronic care management, including medication
management

4. Provide Self-Care Support and Community Resources: Assist patients and their families in self-care management with information, tools and resources

5. Track and Coordinate Care: Track and coordinate tests, referrals and transitions of care
6. Measure and Improve Performance: Use performance and patient experience data for continuous quality improvement

The NCQA runs numerous programs including

Accreditation, Certification, Distinction and Recognition

Recognition

Additional Resources:

American Academy of Family Physicians

American Academy of Pediatrics

American College of Physicians

American Osteopathic Association

Center for Medical Home Improvement

The Commonwealth Fund: Patient Centered Care Research and Publications

National Center for Medical Home Initiatives

Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

Primary Care Development Corporation

“Obtaining Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition: A How-To Manual”

Questions? Go to the NCQA website

For more information, please e-mail pcmh@ncqa.org or call (888) 275-7585, M-F, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET.

 

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