Health Technology Services Newsletter

Issue 46  July 2016
Your Trusted Source for Staying Current with Health Technology Information   
Top 5 What You Need to Know Now!
click on the links for more information






Register for FREE Webinars
Wednesday, July 13, 2016 - 1-2 pm MDT
2016 Meaningful Use Mid Year Review
Presented by Health Technology Services
Webinar Description
Are you completing the needed tasks for Meaningful Use reporting for 2016?  Join Patty Kosednar, HTS Consultant, to review what you need to know and do to successfully attest to Meaningful Use for the 2016 reporting year.  We will also provide an overview of the alignment/conversion of the existing MU program into MACRA/MIPS for 2017.
Agenda
  • Review the of requirements for 2016 MU reporting
  • Share the list of tasks and deadlines needed to meet the requirements
  • Provide suggestions on how to overcome obstacles in reporting
  • Overview of MU program alignment with MACRA/MIPS for 2017
  • Open Q&A session

Wednesday, July 26, 2016 - 1-2 pm MDT
Introduction to Essential Steps for HIPAA Compliance
Presented by HealthInsight
Webinar Description
This free one-hour webinar will continue to build on the foundation needed to build your HIPAA program and protect your practice and patients from the harm of HIPAA violations.


Thursday, July 27, 2016 - 2-3 pm MDT
PQRS/Quality Payment 
Presented by Mountain-Pacific Quality Health
Webinar Description
In this monthly PQRS/QPP Learning Action Network webinar, we will share updates from CMS on the Physician Quality Reporting System and the emerging Quality Payment Program as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (commonly known as MACRA) is put into place.
 
Our goals are to help you implement changes to meet the requirements of these programs and to provide an environment that is dynamic and responsive to your needs.  It is also a time for you to share your knowledge, wisdom, and experiences to help your peers.

 
Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - 1-2 pm MDT
Mobile Technology in Health Care:  Privacy and Security Considerations
Presented by Health Technology Services
Webinar Description
Mobile technologies are expected to remain one of the top CIO priorities through 2016. This is for good reason with a reported 90 percent of health care providers currently utilizing mobile devices and security experts warning of significant risks to their organizations.

Join Heath Technology Services for a discussion on the advantages offered by mobile technology, the threats to your mobile device security and what safeguards can be implemented to help protect your organization from becoming the next easy target.

 
Wednesday, August 30, 2016 - 1-2 pm MDT
Introduction to Preparing for a HIPAA Audit
Presented by HealthInsight
Webinar Description
As a part of its continued efforts to assess compliance with the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has begun its next phase of audits of covered entities and their business associates. This webinar will help prepare your organization and protect you from financial and reputational harm.


Coming in September - Webinar on Patient Engagement!

Did You Miss our Latest Webinar - Making Sense of Clinical Quality Reporting?
Need help understanding how to do your quality reporting?  On June 21, Mary Erickson, HIT/Quality Improvement Consultant with Health Technology Services reviewed hospital and eligible professional quality reporting requirements for the Meaningful Use program as well as inpatient and outpatient quality reporting in 2016.  View the recording and presentation slides.
 
Do you have a webinar topic you would like us to present?  Email your hot topic to Deb AndersonSee our upcoming webinars.
Top 5 What You Need to Know Now!
For providers and hospitals that still need to attest to 2015 MU for the Medicaid program, following  is the state level registry (SLR) entry and deadline info:
  • Alaska
    EP - SLR closed for 2015 attestations
    EH - SLR due to open 8/1 (estimated) for 2015 attestations
  • Hawaii
    EP - SLR deadline is 7/31/16 for 2015 attestations
    EH - SLR due to open 8/1 (estimated) for 2015 attestations
  • Montana
    EP - SLR deadline is 7/29/16 for 2015 attestations
    EH - SLR due to open 8/1 (estimated) for 2015 attestations
  • Wyoming
    EP - SLR closed for 2015 attestations
    EH - SLR closed for 2015 attestations
The timeframes above are the most current at this time.   You may want to check your local SLR for further information.
 
Find all the latest Meaningful Use resources on our HTS website. Need assistance with MU?  Please contact HTS for questions on MU and HIPAA SRA services.

Top2Patient Engagement:  Are you using your patient portal successfully to engage your patients in their health and care? 
Many health care practices across the country are seeing the benefits of EHR patient portal implementation - more effective delivery of care, reduced burden on office staff, and informed, engaged patients.  
 
But there can be challenges - cumbersome enrollment, clunky interfaces, reluctant patients, doctors, and office staff as well as privacy and security questions.
 
ONC has just released a new resource designed to help engage your patients in their health care - the Patient Engagement Playbook. This new resource is a compilation of tips and best practices collected from providers and health systems who want to actively engage their patients in their health and well being.  In this Patient Engagement Playbook, ONC will demystify patient portals and tell you how you can make them work for you and your patients. 

Access the Patient Engagement Playbook at https://www.healthit.gov/playbook/pe/.
 
Do you need assistance understanding your patient portal?  Please contact HTS.
 
top3Electronic Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR):  Who is required to report inpatient quality reporting measures electronically for reporting year 2016?
If your organization is a PPS hospital participating in the inpatient quality reporting program (IQR), you are REQUIRED to report
at least 4 measures electronically for reporting year 2016 to avoid payment adjustments in Federal Fiscal Year 2018. 

The data submission deadline will be February 28, 2017, and you may report data from 2016 quarter 3 or 4.  Access the CMS checklist to help you get started.

Critical Access Hospitals are not yet required to report electronically. However, there is a proposed rule currently being considered that would require ALL hospitals to report all CQMs electronically for calendar year 2017. The comment period on this ruling closed June 17, 2016, and a final ruling is expected in August. It is safe to say that electronic quality measure reporting is on its way for everyone very soon!

Don't panic, there's still time to prepare! Contact HTS for help getting started with electronic quality measure reporting!

Top4Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS):  PQRS Group or Individual Reporting - The Decision is Over!
The June 30th deadline for Group Reporting Option is past! Congratulations on completing this milestone in the PQRS reporting process.   What is an important next step in the PQRS Process?    Measure selection is a valuable next step and provides an opportunity to align with other quality reporting programs in your organization.   A focus on common measures for monitoring and reporting can contribute to efficiency in data collection and improved outcomes.
 
During the June Learning and Action Network webinar, a tool was demonstrated that can assist with measure selection. The 2016 PQRS Single Source Code Master is useful to find measures by codes billed by individuals or groups.  It is a listing of all denominator and numerator coding for each "claims and registry measure" which can be sorted by CPT (C4), CPT II (claims reporting), ICD-10 (I10) and HCPCS.  Access the 2016 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) Single Source Code Master.
 
Please contact HTS on how to use this tool or if you have other PQRS questions.
T5HIPAA:  Is your facility prepared to answer your patients' questions about their rights to see and obtain their health information?
Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recently released short, educational HIPAA access videos in English and Spanish for individuals and health care providers. This is a series of three 3-5 minute educational videos designed to help your patients better understand their rights to see and get their health information, and to have that information sent to others of their choosing (including family members, caregivers, or a mobile device application).
 
The video topics include Individual's Rights under HIPAA to access their health information, HIPAA Access Associated Fees and Timing and HIPAA Access and Third Parties.
 
Access these 3 short HIPAA videos at https://www.healthit.gov/access

Email Susan Clarke, ISCCertified Health Care Information Security and Privacy Practitioner with Health Technology Services, or call 307.248.8179 if you need help with your Privacy and Security needs.
HTS Contact Information
Health Technology Services is a department of Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Foundation, QIN-QIO for Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Wyoming.  Together we can help you use technology to deliver the quality care your patients deserve! 
 
Thank-You!    
 
Health Technology Services
Mountain-Pacific Quality Health
Contact HTS at (406) 457-5897
  
New Quality Payment Program News

On June 20, HHS announced $20 million in funding to help provide hands-on training and education for Medicare clinicians in individual or small group practices of 15 clinicians or fewer who practice in historically under-resourced areas including rural areas, health professional shortage areas, and medically underserved areas.

Organizations that are awarded these funds will provide education and consultation about the Quality Payment Program at no cost to the clinician or their practice. As required by MACRA, HHS will continue to award $20 million each year over the next five years, providing $100 million in total to help small practices successfully participate in the Quality Payment Program.


Find the latest CMS resources on Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs), Advancing Care Information (ACI), upcoming and past webinars, fact sheets, timelines and more.
 

Resources for Small Practices in Rural Areas


Patient Access to Health Info Key to Patient Engagement

Patients who access their health data via a patient portal tend to be better informed of their own health care and up-to-date on their current treatments and medications. 

A survey done at VCU Health confirmed that their patients strongly approve of their patient portal because it helps them stay better informed and manage their own care.  Susan Wolver, MD, internist and professor at VCU Health said "Eighty percent of people said that it helps them take better care of themselves. So that is unbelievable."

Patient access to their own health data also helps providers do their jobs.  When patients view their data on the patient portal, they learn more about their conditions and are better prepared to discuss them with their provider.

"The patients feel that they are more participant in their care," Wolver explains.  "They bring things to their providers that they may not have understood or known before.  I know all kinds of care that has been transformed because of the portal."

A Note from MT DPHHS
2015 Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive for Eligible Professionals
 
Please begin the 2015 attestation process well before the Friday, July 29, 2016 deadline.  Time is needed to ensure registrations are current and application information is available.
 
Beginning July 1, 2016 the Certified Health IT Products (CHPL) website URL is http://chpl.healthit.gov  Please capture a screenshot to include with your application.
 
2016 is the last opportunity to begin the Medicaid EHR incentive program. 
 
Montana intends to accept 2016 attestations September 2016 through March 2017.  Those beginning with the adopt, implement or upgrade (A/I/U) step and those demonstrating meaningful use (MU) for 90 days may attest this fall.  Those reporting for 12 months on meaningful use measures must wait until January.
 
Question or  concerns - email Randy Haight, Manager, State Level Registry for Medicaid EHR Incentive at MT DPHHS.
Clinic Corner
Do you know what you should be working on for MU in 2016? Visit the Clinic Corner at our HTS website to find out.  You will also find the latest webinars and current information you need to know.
Hospital Corner
Do you know what to do to meet EHR Incentive Program requirements for 2016?  Visit the Hospital Corner at our HTS website for the latest webinars and current information you need to know.

QIO Corner
AHRQ Toolkit Helps Health Care Organizations and Providers Communicate With Patients and Families When Harm Occurs

Have you heard of the Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR) Toolkit? It is a valuable resource featured on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) website. "The toolkit will help expand use of an AHRQ-developed communication and resolution process called Communication and Optimal Resolution, or CANDOR, which gives hospitals and health systems the tools to respond immediately when a patient is harmed and to promote candid, empathetic communication and timely resolution for patients and caregivers."

Come See Us
Aug 3-4, 2016
Join us at the 2016 WY Quality Healthcare Conference in Casper, WY. 

Aug 25, 2016
Visit us at the 2016 MT HIMSS Education and Mixer at the Montana Hospital Association in Helena, MT.

Sept 7-8, 2016
Be sure to visit us at the 2016 Wyoming Hospital Association Annual Meeting and Conference in Cheynne, WY.
 
Sept 28-30, 2016
Planning an Upcoming Event
HTS has HIT/CMS Program subject matter experts who can present current and relevant information on many HIT/Quality Reporting topics.  
  
Contact Deb Anderson for details.
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