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In This Issue
Whiteside Clinic
Privacy & Security Requirements
PSRS-Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot
Submitting Quality Data
Electronic Prescribing
Continuous Quality Improvement Strategies
Recorded Webinars
Mostashari shares thoughts upon leaving ONC
ACOs
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Issue: 10  
September 2013
Medical Office   

Whiteside Health Clinic works with IL-HITREC to achieve MU goals 

Whiteside County Community Health Clinic in Rock Falls, IL, is looking forward to working with the Illinois Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (IL-HITREC/NIU)
to move forward in the attestation process for Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records, according the Beth Fiorini, MS, Whiteside County's Public Health Administrator. Read the complete story.

Privacy & Security Requirements 

Ensuring Privacy & Security of health information, including information in electronic health records (EHR), is the key component to building the trust required to realize the potential benefits of electronic health information exchange. Your practice, not your EHR vendor, is responsible for taking the steps needed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of health information in your EHR and comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules and CMS Meaningful Use Requirements. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has released a 45-page PDF guide outlining the requirements. Access it by clicking hereThe American Medical Association has also released a guide to Privacy & Security. It explains the rules changes for HIPPA as well. Click here to link to the AMA website.

PQRS-Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot  

CMS has released a new fact sheet on how to participate in the 2013 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Pilot Program. The PQRS-Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot Program allows eligible professionals to meet the clinical quality measure (CQM) reporting requirements for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program while also reporting for the PQRS program by submitting their CQM data electronically. Read the complete story  

 

For additional information about the EHR Incentive Program and PQRS, click here.  

Submitting Quality Data for EHR incentives

Providers must report clinical quality measures (CQMs) to CMS to demonstrate meaningful use under the EHR Incentive Programs. For the 2013 reporting year, there are two options for reporting CQMs for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program: through the CMS Attestation System OR through electronic reporting pilots. Read the complete story  

Electronic Prescribing Measure for Stage 1 

Eligible professionals have sent more than 190 million electronic prescriptions for Stage 1 of meaningful use for the EHR Incentive Programs since the programs began in 2011. Learn more about the requirements for the Electronic Prescribing (eRx) core measure, and join these providers who are advancing our health care system through the meaningful use of certified EHR technology. Read the complete story

Continuous Quality Improvement strategies

Learn Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Strategies to optimize your practice. Click here for a primer in PDF.

Recorded Webinars: Medicaid EHR,
Quality Measurement 101

CMS launched the eHealth webinar series to educate eligible professionals (EPs) about the eHealth programs and resources available. The presentations and recordings from past webinars can be accessed on the Resources page of the eHealth website   

Medicaid EHR Incentive Program: How Eligible Professionals Successfully Participate (Aug. 13, 2013): 

PowerPoint Presentation

 

Quality Measurement 101: What Providers Need to Know about CMS Quality Programs (July 16, 2013):  

PowerPoint Presentation

Mostashari leaving ONC this fall   

National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari will resign this fall, U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced in a letter sent to staffers on Aug. 6. Read more, including Mostashari's letter, as well as Sebelius' message.

ACOs: Future of Coordinated Care 

An Accountable Care Organization (ACO)is a group of primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together with a common goal of delivering high-quality coordinated care to their Medicare patients.The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created ACOs based on a vision of a more connected and effective health care system. Read the complete story