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 For EHR Meaningful Use Incentives in 2013 MEDICARE Incentives July 3, 2013 |
Last day for eligible hospitals to begin their 90-day reporting period to demonstrate meaningful use for FY 2013. |
September 30, 2013
Last day of federal fiscal year. Reporting year ends for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals.
October 1, 2013
90-day reporting begins for eligible hospitals and critical hospitals for FY 2014.
December 31, 2013
Reporting year ends for eligible professionals.
MEDICAID Incentives
March 1, 2013 - WY
March 29, 2013 - MT
Last day eligible providers must register and attest for 2012 calendar year.
November 29, 2013
An eligible hospital must register and attest for 2013 calendar year. | |
MU Stage 2 | |
Make sure you are prepared for Stage 2 of the EHR Incentive Programs. See our full list of
MU Services |
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Congratulations to the Billings Clinic for being accredited as an Accountable Care Organization (ACO)!
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Sequester Will Hit EHR Incentive Plan
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Sequester cuts include a 2% cut in Medicare EHR incentive payment. Medicaid EHR incentive payments are not affected.
Medicare providers should expect cuts in payments for services provided on or after April 1.
On average, these Medicare-only hospitals have been paid $1.87 million each, which means a 2% cut would amount to about $37,500 for similarly compensated hospitals once the cuts are applied.
The cut would amount to a few hundred dollars for physicians and other "eligible professionals". The top EHR incentive payment for them under Medicare is now $18,000, so the 2% reduction would cost $360. |
| Do Eligible Hospitals and Providers need to have their EHR certified to 2014 even if they are attesting to MU Stage 1 in 2014? |
YES, if participating in MU in 2014, you will need to be using Stage 2 certified EHR technology (certified to the 2014 Edition EHR certification criteria).
This is the case regardless of whether you are still attesting to Stage 2 or have already moved to Stage 2. |
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ICD-10 Checklists and Timelines | |
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To help you prepare for ICD-10, CMS has released new checklists and timelines for small and medium provider practices, large provider practices, small hospitals and payers.
These resources are designed to give you a high-level understanding of what the ICD-10 transition requires and how your ICD-10 preparations compare with recommended timeframes.
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Happy St. Pat's Day
From all of us at Health Technology Services
Susan Clarke
Mary Erickson
Patty Kosednar
Sarah Leake
Daniel Meyers
Sharon Milanos
Mark Norby
Erin O'Brien
Marlin Sander | |
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EHR and Health IT Perspectives Newsletter
Welcome to the Montana/Wyoming Health Technology Service's (HTS) EHR and Health IT Perspectives Newsletter. |
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HIPAA Final Rule
Business Associates Beware! | |
On January 17, Health and Human Services (HHS) released the HIPAA Final Rule which resulted in significant changes to the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. These rules vastly modify the roles and responsibilities of your Business Associates (BAs) and their subcontractors. 
The definition of a BA is expanded to include entities or individuals that maintain Patient History Information (PHI) on behalf of a Covered Entity (CE), even if such entities or individuals never access PHI such as cloud services or other hosted solutions. Also,
- BAs are directly subject to the HIPAA Security, Privacy and Breach Rules.
- BAs are directly subject to civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply with applicable provisions.
- BAs are liable for all of their subcontractors who also access, transmit, maintain, and receive PHI.
- A key responsibility of a BA is to ensure it completes a comprehensive risk analysis on a regular, pre-defined schedule.
Covered entities and business associates must comply with the applicable requirements of the final rule by September 23, 2013. 
Need help navigating the details of these HIPAA changes, including compliance deadlines?
Contact your HTS REC Health Technology Consultant or
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| Reporting Year 2 for MU Stage 1 | |
Need help understanding what is needed for Stage 1 Year 2?
 We are ready to help you navigate the next steps of Meaningful Use . Stage 2 means higher thresholds in patient engagement and care coordination, but also includes specific requirements in e-prescribing, recording demographic information and transmitting care summaries electronically.
Contact your HTS REC Health Technology Consultant or
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Recommendations for MU Audit Preparation |
 Meaningful Use Yes/No Measures
The CMS Auditing organization is not accepting screen shots as documentation that the functionality was enabled for MU Yes/No measures for the entire reporting period. Yes/No measures can include Drug/Disease-Drug/Allergy checks, Clinical Decision Support rule and Drug Formulary Check.
A letter from your EHR vendor will be required confirming that the measure feature configuration was in place during the entire reporting period.
Questions??
Contact your HTS REC Health Technology Consultant or Patty Kosednar 406-461-4410
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What is an Accountable Care Organization? | |
An Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is a partnership of healthcare providers who choose to work together in a way that will improve the quality, coordination and efficiency of the care they deliver to a defined group of patients. The providers in this partnership can include primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals, therapists and other medical professionals.
Practicing accountable care means that healthcare is organi zed for patients around these five principles -
- Preventive care
- Care team coordination
- Electronic health records
- Treatment based on proof
- Day or night access
ACOs are now being formed around the country for people over 65 to meet the new care guidelines of Medicare, and for people who have insurance through their employers, like Blue Cross, United, Aetna, etc. ACOs are also being considered to service Medicaid patients in order to improve the coordination of care.
ACOs measure and report on the quality of their medical care -- this is what makes them "accountable".
ACOs are being designed to serve all patients, but the patient groups that will benefit immediately are Medicare patients, chronically ill patients, those with high hospital usage, and patients with mild health risks such as asthma or high blood pressure.
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HHS Announces 2013 Agenda to Lower Health Costs and Improve Quality of Care Through Health Information Technology (HIE) | |
US Department of Health & Human Services
March 6, 2013
"Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we are improving the  way care is delivered while lowering costs," said Acting Administrator Tavenner. "We are already seeing benefits, such as a reduction in hospital readmissions due to these reforms. Health IT and the secure exchange of information across providers are crucial to reforming the system, and must be a routine part of care delivery."
This year HHS will -
- Set aggressive goals for 2013: HHS is setting the goal of 50% of physician offices using electronic health records (EHR) and 80% of eligible hospitals receiving meaningful use incentive payments by the end of 2013.
- Implement Meaningful Use Stage 2: HHS is implementing rules that define what data must be able to be exchanged between Health IT systems, including how data will be structured and coded so that providers will have one uniform way to format and securely send data.
Read more... |
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Healthcare Law Protects Consumers Against Worst Insurance Practices | |
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
February 22, 2013
HHS today issued a final rule that implements five key consumer protections from the Affordable Care Act, and makes the health insurance market work better for individuals, families and small businesses
"Because of the Affordable Care Act, being denied affordable health coverage due to medical conditions will be a thing of the past for every American," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "Being sick will no longer keep you, your family, or your employees from being able to get affordable health coverage."
Today's final rule implements five key provisions of the Affordable Care Act that are applicable to non-grandfathered health plans .
- Guaranteed Availability
- Fair Health Insurance Premiums
- Guaranteed Renewability
- Single Risk Pool
- Catastrophic Plans
Read the details... |
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Additional HTS Services | |
Let Health Technology Services assist you with all your HIT needs, from E.H.R selection/implementation to meaningful use and beyond. Our HIT services also include:
- HIT Consulting and Project Management
- IT Managed Services
- HIPPA Privacy and Security Assessments
- EHR and Essential Computer Training Programs
- MU Year 2 monitoring and Stage 2 preparation
Let HTS help you with all your HIT needs
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Health IT Resources (Links) | |
National eHealth Collaborative
"We are at a critical moment when patient engagement is becoming increasingly important given the movement toward meaningful use and accountable care."
Patient Centered Medical Home
NCQA 's Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) 2011 is an innovative program for improving primary care. In a set of standards that describe clear and specific criteria, the program gives practices information about organizing care around patients, working in teams and coordinating and tracking care over time.
HealthShare Montana
HealthShare Montana is a statewide, non-profit organization, created to develop a system for the electronic exchange of healthcare information.
CMS eHealth Website
CMS eHeath is the transformation of heathcare delivery in the United States through simplified, standardized electronic information and technology, to achieve improved quality of care, better health outcomes and reduced costs.
New CMS Interactive Tool to Determine MU Stages
An interactive tool that allows eligible providers to determine what year they will meet Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 of meaningful use in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. |
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Thank-you for reading our newsletter. Please contact us if you have any questions or comments. We also welcome your feedback.
Thank-you!
Marlin Sander
406-457-5897
Executive Director
Health Technology Services
Montana/Wyoming Regional Extension Center
www.htsrec.com |
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