Greetings! 

 

Welcome to the new IC³ Beacon Community and Meaningful Use bi-weekly newsletter!  You are a valued participant in the HealthInsight Regional Extension Center (REC) and Beacon programs.  We hope you find this series of emails educational and informative as we keep you up-to-date on recent program activities.  We look forward to working together helping you achieve your Beacon Aims and Meaningful Use goals.

 

 

BEACON COMMUNITY UPDATE

Family nurse practitioner Steve Larsen examines a patient's foot during a routine visit at Jordan Meadows Medical Center.

One of the first things patients see upon entering the Jordan Meadows Medical Center is a poster that reads "Show us your feet." The IC³ Beacon Clinical Improvement Team has infused the practice with the importance of conducting foot exams for patients with diabetes. Full Article >>>  

Medicare Distributes $75M in Meaningful Use Incentive Payments

On May 19, 2011, the Medicare EHR Incentive Program issued the first round of payments totaling $75 million to providers who signed up in the first two weeks of the program.

 

On April 18 CMS opened a secure website through which eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) can demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology to CMS by "attesting" to their compliance with program requirements for a continuous 90-day reporting period for their first year of participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. In their second year and subsequent years of participation in the program, providers must  demonstrate meaningful use based on a full year reporting period. CMS expects that providers will attest throughout 2011 and that the total amount of Medicare EHR incentive payments will continue to grow.

 

To read more, click here. 

 CMS Announces Financial Resources, Flexibility To Help Providers Use Health IT Systems
 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced two steps that will help modernize America's health care delivery system by encouraging doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers to adopt and meaningfully use health information technology.  Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, providers are receiving incentive payments through both the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs for the meaningful use of certified EHR technology.  The proposed rule for the Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program released today would give more flexibility to providers who are adopting electronic prescribing systems. 

• The Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program today announced proposals for new flexibilities to help providers phase in the use of electronic prescription technology.  This program provides financial incentives, including payment adjustments beginning January 1, 2012, for eligible providers to encourage electronic prescribing.  The proposals announced today would provide exemptions from the payment adjustment for providers who plan to participate in the program but who face certain barriers to using electronic prescribing systems or meeting program requirements that may be beyond their control.

 

To learn more, click here.