In This Issue
Important Dates for MU
WY Rural Health IT Funding Workshop
Check out 2 New CMS FAQs
PQRS Payments Now Available
Register for FREE Webinar on New CEHRT Flexibility Rule
FREE Webinars
New Extended CMS Deadline for Hardship Exceptions
RECs Surpass Goal of Assisting 100,000 Providers to MU Stage 1
Congrats to Sharon Phelps-New HIT Fellow
Hospital Faces Loss of $900K in EHR Incentives
See All HTS Services
Health IT Resources
Join Our List

FOR EHR MEANINGFUL USE INCENTIVES

 

October 1, 2014

Last day for new eligible professional meaningful users to attest to 2014 data and avoid the 2015 payment adjustment
 
November 30, 2014
Attestation deadline for Medicare eligible hospitals for the 2014 program year
  
November 30, 2014
Hardship Exception Applications due to avoid the 2015 Medicare Payment Adjustment
 
December 31, 2014
End of 2014 calendar year and end of the 2014 reporting period for eligible professionals
 

See Complete CMS MU Timeline 

 

 

 ********************

 

FOR ICD-10

 

October 1, 2015 

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

 

 Wyoming Rural Health IT Funding Workshop

 

 

WY Hospital Association, WY Primary Care Association, WY Medical Society, WY Chapter of HFMA, Health Technology Services and Mountain-Pacific Quality Health launched the Wyoming Rural Health IT Funding Initiative Workshop on October 8, 2014. 

 

This workshop was designed to link rural safety-net providers and hospitals with funding programs to help them invest in the technology to optimize their health systems.

 

Access workshop presentations at Montana HIMSS under "Additional Materials"

 

 Check out 2 New CMS FAQ's

 

 CEHRT Day 1 FAQ

Find out when

CEHRT must be implemented to be successful for 2014 PQRS reporting.

 

2014 Registry XML NPI Validation FAQ

 Info on

error message received when registries are submitting National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) for group practices participating via the group practice reporting option (GPRO) for 2014 PQRS.

 

 

PQRS Payments Now Available

 

CMS announces 2013 PQRS incentive payments are now available for eligible professionals and group practices who submitted data for Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Part B services between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013.

 

read more on PQRS incentive payments

 

Enjoy Fall from Health Technology Services

Deb Anderson 

Susan Clarke

Lisa Corino

Mary Erickson

Patty Kosednar

Sarah Leake

Sharon Milanos

Issue #25 

       October, 2014   
 EHR and Health IT Perspectives Newsletter   
          
 Welcome to the Montana/Wyoming Health Technology Service's (HTS) EHR and Health IT Perspectives Newsletter. 
  Register for CMS FREE Webinar on the New CEHRT Flexibility Rule on Wed., Oct. 15, 11-12 pm MDT 
Don't miss this FREE CMS webinar which will provide eligible providers with an overview of the 2014 Certified EHR Technology (CEHRT) Flexibility Rule that went into effect on October 1, 2014.
 
This webinar will include guidance and instructions on how eligible professionals who have been unable to fully implement 2014 Edition CEHRT for an EHR reporting period in 2014 due to delays in 2014 Edition CEHRT availability can use the rule's flexibility to report for 2014. 
 
  

 

Please contact Health Technology Services for assistance

FREE Webinars

 Register for a free webinar!

 

Wednesday, October 15

11 am-12 pm MDT 

CMS - New CEHRT Flexibility Rule Overview

 

Agenda
* CMS 2014 CEHRT Flexibility Rule overview
* Stage 2 extension
* 2014 flexibility options
* Attestation System updates
* CMS responses to public comments
* Resources 

register here

Wednesday, October 29 

1-2 pm MDT

Health Technology Services-

Review New Meaningful Use Attestation Process

 

Join us for a review of how the Meaningful Use attestation process will change due to the new 2014 Certified EHR Technology (CEHRT) Flexibility Rule that went into effect on October 1, 2014.


register here

Wednesday, November 5

11:30am-1 pm MDT

National Provider Call-Transitioning to ICD-10

 

Agenda 

*Final rule and national implementation

*Medicare Fee-For-Service testing

*Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Grouper Conversion Project

*Partial code freeze and annual code updates

 *Plans for National Coverage Determinations (NCDs) and Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs)

*Home health conversions

*Claims that span the implementation date 


register here

 

See our HTS webinar archive for a listing of past webinars

    New Extended CMS Deadline for Hardship Exceptions
CMS reopened the submission period for hardship exception applications with a deadline of November 30, 2014 for eligible professionals and eligible hospitals to avoid the 2015 Medicare payment adjustments for not demonstrating meaningful use of Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT).
  
Previously, the hardship exception application deadline was April 1, 2014 for eligible hospitals and July 1, 2014 for eligible professionals.  

 

     RECs Surpass Their Goal of Assisting 100,000 Providers to MU Stage 1!
Health IT Buzz
September 17, 2014 
  
Regional Extension Centers around the country have surpassed their goal and now support over 100,000 providers to demonstrate Stage 1 Meaningful Use.
  
The RECs cut across and deeply penetrate all health care settings, geography, and specialty across the U.S., focusing on primary care and rural and underserved providers. RECs are partnered with over 150,000 providers across the country - 44 percent (139,000) of all primary care providers and more than 13,000 specialists - and helped 91 percent (over 139,000) of those providers adopt an electronic health record (EHR) system.

 

Congratulations to Sharon Phelps - New HIT Fellow!

 
Sharon Phelps of Cody, Wyoming, was nominated and selected as 1 of 13 HIT champions from across the country to join a team of on-the-ground leaders focused on achieving and leveraging interoperable health IT to improve health and health care and create a learning health system.
  
The Health IT Fellows program was created as a way to learn with and from those in the field using health IT to improve patient care. Health IT Fellows are empowered to work with the local and national community to promote open and productive dialogue around health IT.
 
We appreciate the HIT Fellows commitment and contributions to ensure information is available when and where it matters to improve and protect people's health wherever they live, work, learn, play, or receive care. Health IT Fellows are invaluable in their patient care and health IT adoption, optimization and transformation insight to each help one another succeed and innovate.

 

     Hospital Faces Loss of $900K in EHR Incentives for Failing MU Audit  
Health IT News
September 26, 2014 
  

Drew Memorial Hospital in Monticello, Ark., may need to repay $904,000 it received in EHR incentive payments in 2011 and 2012 after the hospital failed a recent audit, according to a report in the Advance-Monticellonian.

 

The auditors found the hospital to not have met one of the requirements for incentive payments during its second year of attestation - having the appropriate security measures in its EHR system. Failing one of the 19 measures means Drew Memorial Hospital is responsible for giving back the incentive money, according to the report. 

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: 

  • 2014 MU HTS Tiered Service Offerings and Discounted Prices for all Current and Previous HTS Clients
  • 2014 HTS Security Risk Analysis Service Level Offerings and Discounted Prices for all Current and Previous HTS Clients
  • HIT Consulting and Project Management
  • PQRS Reporting Assistance
  • HSMDirect Secure Messaging

 

 Contact your HTS REC Health Technology Consultant for help or 

contact HealthTechnology Services 
See more at about these services on our website

Health IT Resources (Links)
eHealth University
eHealth University is a CMS tool to help providers find information and materials on each of the eHealth programs in one location.  
Health Information Exchange
Statewide, non-profit organization created to develop a system for the electronic exchange of healthcare information.   
Montana Public Health MU Registration
Registration link to submit Meaningful Use immunization electronic data for Montana.
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