The Indiana Chapter of the American College of Cardiology has teamed up with the Purdue Regional Extension Center (PurdueREC) to address:

1. Meaningful Use incentives
2. How to prepare for Meaningful Use attestation
3. Security assessments - why this is crucial to attestation preparation
4. What to expect during the attestation process
5. What's next after Stage 1

I hope that you find this series on Meaningful Use helpful in your practice.

Sincerely,

Cardiologists and other specialists who are eligible to enroll in the CMS Medicare/Medicaid EHR Incentive Payment Program are encouraged to do so no later than October 3, 2012, in order to receive all the incentive payments available to them.

 

What Physicians Are Eligible to Receive

Under the multi-year program aimed at improving healthcare quality and safety, each physician is eligible for up to $44,000 or $63,750 in CMS incentive payments dependent on the program they select (Medicare or Medicaid respectively).  More than $4.25 million in incentives have been paid out to physicians in this state already.

 

First Steps
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has defined the term "meaningful EHR user" as an eligible professional or eligible hospital that, during the specified reporting period, demonstrates meaningful use of certified EHR technology in a form and manner consistent with certain objectives and measures. The PurdueREC recommends that you first 1) select a certified EHR technology (or upgrade your current one to ensure it is government-certified) and 2) have an implementation and workflow redesign plan in place to minimize barriers to meeting your selected objectives. In the next segment, we'll talk in depth about preparation for attestation, which is the 90-day period during which the government will monitor your metrics.

 

Before you visit the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Registration & Attestation System to register, take the time to contact Allison Bryan, Purdue Regional Extension Center Field Operations Manager, at (765) 496-9791 or abryan@purdue.edu. The PurdueREC can guide you through registration; it serves as a one-stop shop for Meaningful Use guidance, attestation validation/support, and for the highly recommended security risk assessments.

 

Purdue University has spent the past year helping more than 2,400 Indiana primary care physicians and more than 30 hospitals as they seek to comply with the "Meaningful Use" standards associated with electronic health records systems (EHRs).