|
|
|
Welcome to REConnection
Since launching our e-newsletter, DocEHRnews, in February 2011, enrollment in the EHR Adoption program has grown to 1,003 primary care providers--more than 100% of our goal. Of these, 764 have reached "Milestone 2" (using their EHR to e-prescribe and do quality reporting), and 240 have achieved Stage 1 Meaningful Use.
RI REC's services also now include those that help RI providers use CurrentCare, including the Patient Record Inquiry Service, Direct messaging, and Provider Notification. With all that's new, and to reflect the extended scope of RI REC's programs and services, we are launching this new bimonthly e-newsletter, REConnection. We hope that you'll enjoy the new format and continue to find the content useful.
We want to hear from you: As you navigate your way through all that's health IT, let us know how we can help. Please send comments and suggestions for future newsletter content to Cathy Coffin.
Enjoy your summmer! |
|
|
EVENT CALENDAR
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
4:00-8:00 pm
(Crowne Plaza Hotel, Warwick)
|
|
|
A new "Health IT Dashboard" presents data about EHR adoption, with more than 150 state and county maps. Data will be updated monthly, and later this month, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT will publish an EHR and HIE dashboard showing trends in physician and hospital adoption of health IT.
Nationwide, the 62 RECs have enrolled 140,000 providers; of those, 74% have met the "live on EHR" goal (Milestone 2), and 11% have attested to Meaningful Use. Of the 1,003 PCPs in RI REC's EHR Adoption Program, 76% are at Milestone 2, and 24% have attested to Stage 1 Meaningful Use.
To view data for RI REC's providers, visit the Health IT Dashboard and click RI 's location on the US map. From there, click inside the "REC Performance Indicators" box to the left of the map to view RI REC provider statistics, including provider specialties and practice settings.
To view a list of practices enrolled in RI REC's EHR Adoption Program,click here. |
Update on Medicare & RI Medicaid EHR incentive payments
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) releases a monthly report about Meaningful Use attestation in the EHR Incentive Program. As of March 31, 2012--the most recent report--more than $4.48 billion in Medicare and Medicaid payments went to hospitals and eligible professionals nationwide. (Elsewhere, CMS reported that as of May 3, the amount had surpassed $5 billion paid to approximately 93,650 providers and hospitals.)
CMS also has posted a list of providers (those in RI are on pages 1971-1984) and a list of hospitals (the five RI hospitals are on page 40) that received EHR incentive payments as of March 31, 2012. |
|
|
|
Providers have asked whether their patients should enroll in Lifespan's eHx and/or CurrentCare. Here's what you should know and can share with your patients: Lifespan's eHX allows Lifespan's physicians to communicate electronically with each other and with Lifespan's hospitals. This kind of shared information system helps avoid duplicate medical testing and allows for better coordination of patient care. CurrentCare is RI's statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE). Participating physicians and healthcare facilities can use this highly secure system to connect with each other to share consented patients' health information. Better communication between healthcare providers--within and outside the Lifespan health system--means better care, lower costs, and better health for all Rhode Islanders.
It's valuable for patients to enroll in both health information exchanges so every healthcare provider they see can work together for the individual's and family's best health. Read CurrentCare FAQs. |
 Got a tip to share? Has your practice used a health IT tool or created a procedure that has streamlined your workflow or enhanced your time with patients? Have you discovered a process that made achieving Meaningful Use easier? Let us know, and we may feature you and your staff in an upcoming e-newsletter issue. Contact your REC Relationship Manager or call Cathy Coffin at 276-9141, ext. 295. |
|
Provider Notification is a service of CurrentCare that uses Direct messaging to notify PCPs when their consented patients have an inpatient, outpatient, or emergency department encounter at a participating hospital. This electronic notification is referred to as admission, discharge, or transfer (ADT).
One of the primary goals of Provider Notification is to improve care transitions for patients to decrease the number of hospital readmissions. In addition, timely follow-up care after a hospital encounter will improve outcomes and reduce costs.
The real-time Direct message includes clinical information about these patients in both human-readable and machine-readable formats. Notifications are available only for patients who are enrolled in CurrentCare.
To date, five RI practices have subscribed to the service, and 1,754 Direct messages have been sent to providers' secure Direct email accounts--allowing them to follow-up with a patient to provide the appropriate care transition. Kent Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital, and South County Hospital are sending ADT data to CurrentCare.
Roger Williams Medical Center; Memorial Hospital of RI; and Rhode Island, The Miriam, Newport, and Our Lady of Fatima Hospitals will begin sending ADT messages to CurrentCare in the next few months.
Provider Notification is available to all Rhode Island primary care practices. To subscribe to the service:
- Learn more about RI REC's Direct Adoption Program and download the six steps to Getting Started with Direct.
- Establish Direct accounts for your practice to receive secure incoming messages.
- Sign a CurrentCare Data Use Agreement.
- Activate your Provider Notification subscription by contacting your RI REC Relationship Manager or Joyce Coutu (jcoutu@riqi.org; 276-9141, ext. 230).
|
|
|
Direct messaging necessary for Stage 2 Meaningful Use
On May 7th, the public comment period closed for the ONC's Proposed Rule for the Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Health Record Technology, which defines the criteria that EHRs must meet to support the achievement of Stage 2 Meaningful Use.
The proposed rule defines Direct as the transport standard to support exchange of clinical data between providers, and between providers and patients. Barring any major changes when the revised rule is released this summer, EHR vendors that plan to support Stage 2 Meaningful Use will need to accelerate efforts to integrate Direct standards into their products. Learn more.
Healthcare providers who want to attest to Stage 2 Meaningful Use will need to integrate Direct into their practice workflows. Watch our new Direct video.
|
|
Take the Privacy & Security Challenge
 Challenge yourself and your colleagues with this Jeopardy-like game that tests your knowledge of the regulations governing the privacy and security of personal health information and the security of EHRs.
Categories include HIPAA; Privacy, Security, and Meaningful Use; and Security Risk Analysis. It's not easy!
Click here or the image to begin.
New Privacy and Security 10-step plan for Meaningful Use
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has released an instructional handbook, Guide to Privacy and Security of Health Information. This 47-page guide is comprehensive, easy-to-understand, and includes a privacy and security 10-step plan.
It explains in detail the two core Meaningful Use Stage 1 requirements related to privacy and security:
- For patients who request it, physicians must provide an electronic copy of their health information within three business days, and
- Providers must conduct a security risk analysis of their EHRs.
Step 6 of the plan (manage and mitigate risk) contains a list of questions to consider, including
- Are your passwords easy to guess or easily found (e.g., taped to a computer monitor)?
- When your practice manager and other staff take a break, do their computer screens still display patient data?
- Where, when, and how do you back-up your data? Is at least one back-up kept offsite?
|
|
Q&A
QUESTION:
I've heard that Direct messaging is a best practice for exchanging electronic patient information securely, and that it will be a requirement for Stage 2 Meaningful Use. What is Direct messaging and how can I start to use it?
ANSWER:
What you've heard is correct, and setting up Direct messaging in your practice is easy.
Your RI REC Relationship Manager can help you with the process, which includes choosing a Health Information Service Provider (HISP), a vendor that provides Direct messaging services.
|
|
|
QUESTION:
After meeting Stage 1 Meaningful Use requirements, including Core Measure #15 (conducting a security risk analysis), what do I need to do to ensure that I continue to meet this measure in subsequent years?
ANSWER: Providers must attest that they have conducted or reviewed a security risk analysis of certified EHR technology and implemented updates as necessary at least once before the end of each EHR reporting period.
It is anticipated that Meaningful Use will be implemented in three stages. Your assessments must be based on the wording of Core Measure #15 for the stage applicable for that year.
|
|
|
QUESTION:
I understand that physicians have received payments through the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, but I don't know anyone who has received a payment through Medicaid. What is happening?
ANSWER:
The RI Medicaid EHR Incentive Program so far has issued payments to more than 100 eligible RI health care providers. You can download a table of Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive provider payments for January 2011 to April 2012.
To learn more about your eligibility for RI's Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, please contact your Relationship Manager.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
REConnection is intended to provide the Rhode Island healthcare community and other interested stakeholders with timely news and information about RI REC's programs, resources, and educational activities that support the adoption of health information technology.
To learn more about participating in RI REC's EHR Adoption, HIE/CurrentCare, and Direct Adoption Programs, please call 888-924-4156 or write to rirec@riqi.org.
|
|
|
|
The RI Regional Extension Center (RI REC) is a service of the Rhode Island Quality Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety, and value of health care in Rhode Island. To learn more, visit www.DocEHRtalk.org.
RI 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. |
|
|
