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Medicare payment adjustments and e-prescribing | |
E-prescribing is a more efficient, accurate, and safer method of prescribing than using phone, fax, and paper methods. Many RI providers already use qualified e-prescribing technology.
For those who do not e-prescribe, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) will begin Medicare payment reductions by 1% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, and by 2% in 2014.
To avoid the 1% penalty for 2012, providers must send at least 10 e-prescriptions (or an exclusion code) by June 30, 2011. To avoid the 1.5% penalty for 2013, you must submit an additional 15 e-prescriptions by December 31, 2011.
For current e-prescribers, earning an e-prescribing incentive payment for 2011 will not necessarily exempt you or your practice from the payment reduction in 2012, but it will exempt you or the group from a reduction in 2013.
For more information about this important change to Medicare payments, see RI REC's summary of the payment adjustments in our eRx penalties flyer and the CMS e-Rx Incentive Program Web site.
To learn more about e-prescribing, read the 2011 Clinician's Guide to E-Prescribing.
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Two physicians receive a readiness assessment subsidy | |
Two RI providers recently received a $1,500 readiness assessment subsidy from RI REC.
Providers are eligible for a $1,500 subsidy (for each provider in a practice, up to 10), if they are enrolled in RI REC's EHR Adoption Program and select a technical service consultant from our Vendor Marketplace to perform the readiness assessment.
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Stanley Balon, MD, and Andrea Levesque, RI REC Relationship Manager |
Stanley Balon, MD, an internist in Cumberland, and Puneet Sud, MD, of Internal Partners in North Providence, received the subsidy after their practices completed an assessment of their readiness to implement an EHR.
As the recommended first step in the EHR adoption process, a readiness assessment determines your practice's core competencies in areas such as leadership, operations, culture, and technology, to determine the actions and services needed for a successful EHR implementation.
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Puneet Sud, MD (center) and Katie Newell (right), RI REC Relationship Manager |
Drs. Sud and Balon will receive an additional $1,000 subsidy from RI REC when they use their new EHRs to achieve meaningful use. This money is in addition to any incentive payments they may receive through participation in the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.
Learn more about RI REC's EHR Adoption Program. |
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Health IT Expo includes EHR & Meaningful Use panels and new vendors | |
 Approximately 200 providers and staff participated in the Rhode Quality Institute's second Health IT Expo on May 18, 2011. Attendees learned about RI REC's services, the currentcare® program, and RI organizations that support health IT adoption and the meaningful use of EHRs.
The Expo included three well-received presentations and a vendor marketplace that included EHR companies, technical service consultants, and the brand-new Health Information Service Providers (HISPs).
HISPs are the latest addition to RI REC's Vendor Marketplace; they supply the services needed for providers to adopt Direct secure e-mail messaging. RI REC is the first REC in the na tion to offer HISPs. Our Direct Program enables providers to send authenticated, encrypted health information to known, trusted recipients using the Internet.
Since the November 2010 Expo, our Vendor Marketplace has expanded to include 23 pre-qualified vendors that offer RI providers discounted products and services.
An article in CMIO, a leading journal for chief medical information officers, quoted the Expo's "EHR Lessons Learned" panelists. Stephen DeRosa of Gateway Healthcare, Inc., spoke about selecting an EHR from a vendor that offers extensive training and a users group. David Gorelick, MD, of Aquidneck Medical Associates, advised providers to customize their EHR as much as posssible and prepare to enter data in a way that is easily identified by reporting tools.
Dr. Gorelick added, "The provider-patient relationship is at the heart of medicine, and technology can help improve that relationship if it is used meaningfully and the data are displayed in an organized manner."
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RI REC's new services extended to more providers | |
 RI REC's original grant-funded mission is to assist 1,000 eligible primary care providers (PCPs) with achieving meaningful use of an EHR. Our program to support this mission has been renamed the EHR Adoption Program.
In addition, we're excited to now extend RI REC membership to include all RI providers and their staff. Those PCPs and specialists who do not qualify for the EHR Adoption Program may now also benefit from our HIT services, resources, and educational programs, including our
- Expanded Vendor Marketplace and its discounted products and services
- New Health IT Certification Program
RI REC has partnered with Quality Partners of RI and the New England Institute of Technology to offer free EHR training for providers and their staff. A tiered approach accommodates those new to computers and EHRs, those with some skills, as well as those who already have enough experience to take the Certified Professionals in EHRs (CPEHR) exam.
- New Direct Program for the secure exchange of health information between providers using the Internet
If you're not already a member of RI REC, click the red button now!
Any questions? Contact RI REC Member Services at 888-858-4815 (select option 4) or write to RIREC@riqi.org.
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Q & A: Medicaid EHR Incentive Program eligibility | |
 Q.: Although I've read a lot about the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, I'm still confused!
When does RI's program start? What percentage of my patients need to have Medicaid for me to be eligible for incentive payments? What are these CHIP reductions that I'm hearing about?
A.: Although RI REC has worked with RI's Medicaid staff to educate providers about the EHR Incentive Program, we still receive questions. We hope these answers help:
Registration for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program in Rhode Island will not start in June, as previously reported--the necessary link between RI Medicaid's Web site and the CMS Web site is not ready. The Program can only "go live" on the first Monday of a month. Although it's a holiday, July 4th is the new targeted start date.
RI's Medicaid EHR program uses the patient volume/encounter calculation method to determine eligibility. A patient encounter is "services rendered to an individual on any one day where a) Medicaid paid for part or all of the service; or b) Medicaid paid all or part of the individual's premiums, co-payments, and cost-sharing."
- Patient volume is calculated as the total number of Medicaid patient encounters in any 90-day period in the previous calendar year divided by your total patient encounters for that same period. The minimum Medicaid patient volume threshold for eligible providers is 30%, except for pediatricians, for which it is 20%. Therefore, if you plan to register when the program begins this year and demonstrate that you have adopted, implemented, or upgraded certified EHR technology, you would use any 90-day period from 2010 to calculate your patient volume.
- Medicaid in RI includes the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Title XXI federally funded insurance program. Providers cannot distinguish CHIP patient encounters from RI Medicaid (Title IXX) encounters because the insurance cards are the same.
RI is required to exclude CHIP from a provider's volume calculations by reducing the number of Medicaid patient encounters by a percentage for the county in which you practice: 10.0 % reduction for Providence County; 11.3% for Washington County; 11.4% for Newport County; 12.3% for Bristol County; and 13.1% for Kent County.
Review examples of CHIP reduction calculations (pp 10-14 of document). For answers to additional RI Medicaid questions, contact ehrincentive@dhs.ri.gov.
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The RI Regional Extension Center (REC) is a service of the Rhode Island Quality Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the healthcare system in Rhode Island. To learn more, visit www.DocEHRtalk.org.
The REC and its services and materials are made possible through a grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology with US Department of Health and Human Services support. |
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