The Road to Meaningful Use

Assisting You In Achieving Meaningful Use

Greetings!

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

The Road to Meaningful Use

As a HealthInsight partner you have taken the first steps along the path to Meaningful Use. Ever wonder how many of your colleagues have joined you on this journey? Curious to know what phase they are in or how close they are to attestation? HealthInsight has compiled information in regards to our partners to share with you.

By provider	Nevada	Utah	By provider	Nevada	Utah
With EHR	448	613	Northern	164	628
Without EHR	227	65	Southern	486	30
Total	675	678	Rural	25	20
			Total	675	678

HealthInsight REC Participants Among First to Attest to Meaningful Use

In June, the HealthInsight Regional Extension Center had the privilege of honoring the first two clinics in the Nevada/Utah region to attest to Meaningful Use, Bountiful Family Healthcare in Utah and Silver Sage Center for Family Medicine in Nevada. In recognition for championing the creation of an electronically-enabled health care system for better patient care, eligible providers at both clinics have been deemed Meaningful Use Vanguards or MUVers. The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) endorses the MUVer program.

Dr. Andrew Pasternak and Dr. Teresa Angermann of Silver Sage Center for Family Medicine successfully attested to Meaningful Use on May 5, 2011. Dr. Pasternak was HealthInsight's first provider to achieve this milestone. Silver Sage Center for Family Medicine in Nevada is the subject of a case study by their EMR vendor, e-MDs, and continues to move forward in adopting the technologies available to increase quality of care.

Dr. Brian Rodgers from Bountiful Family Healthcare successfully attested to Meaningful Use on Tuesday, May 10, 2011. He was HealthInsight's first physician in Utah to achieve this milestone and bring our community closer toward an electronically-enabled health care system.

In early June, 2011, we had the opportunity to celebrate our MUVers achievements. HealthInsight presented each physician with a plaque and a certificate from the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC). In addition, Corey Laulom from HealthFusion (Dr. Rodgers EHR vendor) flew in for the celebration.

We would like to congratulate Drs. Pasternak, Angermann, and Rodgers, as well as their individual staff members, in this great accomplishment. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to improving the quality of healthcare!

HealthInsight is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2011 Physician Office Quality Award.

The HealthInsight Physician Office Quality Award aims to promote excellence in health care. By using available quality data to identify gaps in care, high performing physician office practices will improve the quality of health care they provide.

The 2011 Physician Office HealthInsight Quality Award will be presented to physician office practices that meet the following criteria:

Adoption of health information technology,
Regular use of population care management methods,
Participation in a data reporting quality initiative; and
Exemplary performance on nationally-recognized clinical outcome measures.

Click here or more information about the HealthInsight Quality Award program, to download the physician office application, please click here .

Physician office practices must submit their applications by September 15, 2011 to be considered for the award. Awards are scheduled to be presented in late 2011.

For more information, contact:

Utah - David Cook at 801-892-6623 or dcook@healthinsight.org

Nevada - Kym Roundtree at 702-933-7334 or kroundtree@healthinsight.org

2011 Physician Quality Reporting System and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Provider Communications Group hosted a national provider conference call on the 2011 Physician Quality Reporting System and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program. The target audience was all Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) providers. Subject matter experts provided an overview of the proposed Physician Fee Schedule rule. The presentation can be accessed on the CMS website.

The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan

A New Health Coverage Option for the Uninsured

People who have had difficulty finding health coverage or have been turned down for coverage because of a pre-existing condition and feel like they are out of options are not out of out luck. They may now be eligible for a new federal program-the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP).

PCIP is designed as a bridge to 2014 when the nation transitions to a new marketplace and all Americans-regardless of their health status-will have access to affordable, quality health coverage. This health coverage program is administered at the state level in 27 states and by the federal government in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

David Sayen and Herb Shultz from CMS Region 9 will be presenting material on PCIP in HealthInsight's Community Room on August 8, 2011 from 10:00 am to 11:00 am. For more information, please contact Deborah Huber at dhuber@healthinsight.org.

Contact Us

HealthInsight is your partner in achieving Meaningful Use, so please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Email: rec@healthinsight.org

Phone: (800) 483-0932

This material was prepared by HealthInsight as part of our work as the Regional Extension Center for Nevada and Utah, under grant #90RC0033/01 from the Office of the National Coordinator, Department of Health and Human Services.