In This Issue
Important Dates for MU
When a Data Oops Becomes an Uh-Oh
President Obama Signs the Pathway for SGR Reform Act
Looking for the Latest ONC Privacy and Security Guide?
Rate of Health Spending Growth Remained Low for 4th Consecutive Year
Free Webinars on Important New MU 2014 Changes
How the Proposed New Timeline for EHR Incentive Programs Affects You
2014 Physician Fee Schedule Rule Changes Affecting eHealth Programs Next Year
New Interactive Tool from CMS Helps You Determine Eligibility for eHealth Programs
Verifying Patient Coverage in Health Insurance Marketplace Plan
23 New ACOs Join Program to Improve Care for Medicare Beneficiaries
See All HTS Services
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FOR EHR MEANINGFUL USE INCENTIVES

     

January 1, 2014

  2014 is the last year that Medicare eligible professionals can begin participation and earn an incentive.

Start of Stage 2 for eligible professionals beginning their 3rd or 4th year in the Medicare/Medicaid incentive programs.

  

February 28, 2014

Eligible professionals must attest to receive payment for 2013 calendar year.
  
March 31, 2014
Last day of quarter for eligible professionals reporting for 1st quarter of 2014.
 
July 3, 2014
Last day for eligible hospitals (including CAHs) to begin their 90-day reporting period to demonstrate Meaningful Use for 2014 calendar year.

 

October 1, 2014
Last day for new eligible professional meaningful users to attest to 2014 data and avoid the 2015 payment adjustment.
 

See Complete CMS MU Timeline 

 

  ********************

FOR PQRS

 

January 31, 2014

Deadline for self-nomination statement for Qualified Clinical Data Registries (QCDR) and Maintenance Certification

 

February 28, 2014

Deadline for eligible professionals to submit 2013 PQRS data through some reporting methods for the 2013 program year.

 

Last day for Medicare eligible professionals participating in the Electronic Reporting Pilot to submit quality data to satisfy both the PQRS and the CQM requirement of the EHR Incentive Program.

 

March 31, 2014

Submission deadline of QCDRs

 

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FOR ICD-10

 

October 1, 2014 

Transition date from ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes for diagnoses and inpatient procedures.

When a Data Oops Becomes an Uh-Oh

Business Center - 12/31/13

  We've said it before, but it bears repeating: Glitch Happens. In the case of Accretive Health, Inc., it was a laptop taken from the passenger compartment of an employee's car. 
 
What transformed this oops into a full-fledged uh-oh was that the laptop contained files with 20 million pieces of data about 23,000 patients, including sensitive health information.

 

learn more...

President Obama Signs the Pathway for SGR Reform Act of 2013

Medicare Learning Network - 12/27/13

 On December 26, 2013, President Obama signed into law the Pathway for SGR Reform Act of 2013. This new law prevents a scheduled payment reduction for physicians and other practitioners who treat Medicare patients from taking effect on January 1, 2014 
  
The new law provides for a 0.5 percent update for such services through March 31, 2014. 
 

learn more...

Looking for the Latest ONC Privacy and Security Guide?

   Guide

 

 National Health Spending In 2012: Rate Of Health Spending Growth Remained Low For The Fourth Consecutive Year

  

Health Affairs - 1/14

 

For the fourth consecutive year, growth in health care spending remained low, increasing by 3.7 percent in 2012 to $2.8 trillion. At the same time, the share of the economy devoted to health fell slightly (from 17.3 percent to 17.2 percent) as the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.6 percent.

 

learn more...

  

Happy New Year!

 

From all of us at Health Technology Services

 

Deb Anderson 

Susan Clarke

Lisa Corino

Mary Erickson

Patty Kosednar

Sarah Leake

Sharon Milanos

Mark Norby

Issue #16   

       January, 2014   
 EHR and Health IT Perspectives Newsletter   
          
 Welcome to the Montana/Wyoming Health Technology Service's (HTS) EHR and Health IT Perspectives Newsletter. 
FREE 2014 Webinars on
NLR/SLR Registration/Attestation for EPs and EHs, 
Important New Meaningful Use Changes in 2014, and more

free webinar 

Join us for our 2014 FREE webinars below - registration is required.

  

Wed., January 15, 1-2:30 pm MST

NLR/SLR Registration/Attestation for Eligible Professionals and Hospitals 

register here

 Wed., January 29, 1-2 pm MST

Important New Meaningful Use Changes in 2014

New 2014 MU changes apply regardless of which stage you are reporting in 2014

register here

Wed., February 12, 1-2 pm MST

Meaningful Use Stage 2

register here

Wed., February 19, 1-2 pm MST

HIPAA Privacy and Security 

register here

Wed., March 19, 1-2 pm MST

Understanding & Reporting 2014 Clinical Quality Measures for EPs and EHs 

register here
   

Stay Tuned for Future Webinar Dates 

Open MU Q&A (For HTS MU subscribers only) - January

** details on how to Become a MU Subscriber **

 

 See details on our website www.healthtechnologyservice.com

        How the Proposed New Timeline for the EHR Incentive Programs Affects You       
CMS eHealth - 12/18/13 
  
Last week, CMS and ONC announced the intent to change the Stage 3 timeline and extend Stage 2 of Meaningful Use through 2016.
  
Important to note about the proposed timeline -
  • it does not delay the start of Stage 2 of MU
  • it does not affect the current reporting periods and deadlines for 2014 participation
What this Means for You
If you begin participation with your first year of Stage 1 for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2014:
  • You must begin your 90 days of Stage 1 of Meaningful Use no later than July 1, 2014 and submit attestation by October 1, 2014 in order to avoid the 2015 payment adjustment.
If you have completed 1 year of Stage 1 of meaningful use:
  • You will demonstrate a second year of Stage 1 of Meaningful Use in 2014 for a three-month reporting period fixed to the quarter for Medicare or any 90 days for Medicaid.
  • You will demonstrate Stage 2 of Meaningful Use for two years (2015 and 2016).
  • You will begin Stage 3 of Meaningful Use in 2017.
If you have completed two or more years of Stage 1 of meaningful use:
  • You will still demonstrate Stage 2 of Meaningful Use in 2014 for a three-month reporting period fixed to the quarter for Medicare or any 90 days for Medicaid.
  • You will demonstrate Stage 2 of Meaningful Use for three years (2014, 2015 and 2016).
  • You will begin Stage 3 of Meaningful Use in 2017.
       2014 Physician Fee Schedule Rule Changes Affecting eHealth Programs Next Year
 CMS eHealth News Update - 12/23/13
 
CMS recently issued a final rule that updates the payment policies and payment rates for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on or after January 1, 2014. The changes affect programs such as the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), the EHR Incentive Programs, and the Value-Based Payment Modifier (Value Modifier) payment model. Many of these changes make participating in multiple eHealth programs easier.
 
PQRS
Providers can no longer avoid the 2016 payment adjustment by selecting the administrative claims-based reporting mechanism next year. Instead, providers must report using the program set of clinical quality measures. There are also several new PQRS reporting options for 2014, including:
  • Certified survey vendor reporting (CAHPS) mechanism and EHR reporting for groups
  • Qualified clinical quality registry (QCDR) for individual eligible professionals
Value-Based Payment Modifier
The group size threshold for the value modifier has been lowered. Starting in 2016, groups of physicians with 10 or more eligible professionals are subject to the value-based payment modifier.
 
EHR Incentive Program
Next year, Medicare eligible professionals can submit clinical quality measurement (CQM) information using QCDRs (as defined for PQRS) to meet the CQM reporting component of meaningful use.
Note: Medicare eligible professionals will have to use 2014 certified EHR technology (CEHRT) and report on 2014 CQMs
 
New Interactive Tool from CMS Helps You Determine Eligibility for eHealth Programs  
CMS eHealth - 12/19/13
    
Not sure which CMS eHealth programs you can participate in? Well now there's an easy tool to help you find out.
 
Determine your eligibility in a few simple steps with the new interactive eHealth Eligibility Assessment Tool.  It will help you determine if you are an "eligible professional" for the following eHealth programs:
Answer a few questions about your provider type, whether you bill Medicare and/or Medicaid, and your chosen CMS reporting methods to find out which eHealth programs you may qualify for. Your results will include helpful information and resources to get you started.  
Verifying Patient Coverage in a Health Insurance Marketplace Plan

CMS Announcement - 12/30/13
  

It is the beginning of the New Year and you'll be verifying your patient's insurance status when they show up in your office. With the beginning of the Health Insurance Marketplace, also known as Health Insurance Exchange, over a million people will have a new insurance plan.

 

In many cases, this will be the first time they have had insurance in years.   Many of these people will have signed up for their plan within the past few days. They may not have received their card yet or they may be unaware of the need to carry their insurance information. You may find your office needing to verify their coverage.

 

How do you verify their coverage?

If the marketplace in your state is run by the Federal government, it is best to call their plan's customer service line, a list of all plans and their customer service numbers can be found in this data base. Here's a fact sheet for using the data base.   If you can't find the number, call the Marketplace Call Center (1-800-318-2596). 

23 New Accountable Care Organizations Join Program to Improve Care for Medicare Beneficiaries

CMS Release - 12/23/13

 

Doctors, hospitals and other health care providers have formed 123 new Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in Medicare, providing approximately 1.5 million more Medicare beneficiaries with access to high-quality coordinated care across the United States, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today.

Doctors, hospitals and health care providers establish ACOs in order to work together to provide higher-quality coordinated care to their patients, while helping to slow health care cost growth. Since passage of the Affordable Care Act, more than 360 ACOs have been established, serving over 5.3 million Americans with Medicare.

 

Beneficiaries seeing health care providers in ACOs always have the freedom to choose doctors inside or outside of the ACO. ACOs share with Medicare any savings generated from lowering the growth in health care costs when they meet standards for high quality care. 

Additional HTS Services 

Let Health Technology Services assist you with your HIT needs, from EHR selection/implementation to meaningful use and beyond.  Our HIT services also include: 

  • MU Year 2 Monitoring and Stage 2 Preparation
  • MU 2014 Risk Assessment Review
  • MU Stage 2 Consulting
  • HIT Consulting and Project Management
  • HIPAA Privacy and Security Assessments and New Network Penetration Testing
  • New Lean Sigma Healthcare Methodology
  • New Lean Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) 
  • New HSMDirect Secure Messaging  

Contact your HTS REC Health Technology Consultant for help or 

Patty Kosednar 406-461-4410 
See more at about these services on our website

Health IT Resources (Links)
HealthLinkNow
HealthLinkNow is an Online Clinic where meaningful care comes to patients via telemedicine at home, work, school or vacation.  
HealthShare Montana
HealthShare Montana is a statewide, non-profit organization, created to develop a system for the electronic exchange of healthcare information.   
Wyoming eHealth Partnership
Provides oversight to Wyoming's health information exchange (HIE) efforts.  
eHealth
ONC launches new eHealth resource site to help providers effectively engage patients in choosing how they want their electronic patient health information shared.  
MT HIMSS
MT Chapter of HIMSS is a local resource for peer networking, education, and information sharing to help navigate through the challenges in healthcare information technology with a focus in large rural areas.
Thank you for reading our newsletter.  Please contact us if you have any questions or comments. We also welcome your feedback. 
Thank You!                     

 

Patty Kosednar

Executive Director

Health Technology Services, MT/WY Regional Extension Center

...a division of Mountain-Pacific Quality Health

406-461-4410

www.heathtechnologyservice.com