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In This Issue
* New Chronic Care Management Fee Tool helps clinicians estimate benefits
* Learn More about Summary of Care Meaningful Use Requirements in Stage 2
* Health IT-Enabled Quality Improvement
* Public Health Infographic
* CMS okays Illinois deadline extension for Eligible Hospital attestation to Jan. 31
*Learn More about Protect Electronic Health Info Core Objective
* JASON Report Part II
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Issue: 12                
DECEMBER 2014
IL-HITREC Holiday Greeting 2014 - Outakes
Happy Holidays 2014 from IL-HITREC!
We hope you enjoy our attempt at movie making!

New Chronic Care Management Fee Tool helps clinicians estimate benefits 

ONC posted a new tool on Dec. 5, to help clinicians estimate the amount of money they might receive from treating Medicare patients living with chronic conditions, while using their certified health information technology, on the HealthIT.gov dashboard.

 

The need to share patient information with other providers and the use of financial incentives are key drivers in why many providers adopt and use health information technology tools like electronic health records (EHRs), according a data brief released Dec. 5 from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). Read more...  

 Learn More about Summary of Care Meaningful Use Requirements in Stage 2

If you are an eligible provider participating in the EHR Incentive Programs, you will have the option of reporting the Summary of Care menu objective in Stage 1, but will be required to meet the core objective in Stage 2.

CMS wants to ensure providers are able to meet Measure #2 of the Summary of Care objective in Stage 2. For additional guidance to help you meet the measure, read more...

Health IT-Enabled Quality Improvement  
A 19-page vision paper published recently by ONC outlines its 10-year vision for health IT enabled quality improvement. This vision document is designed to expand the dialogue among clinicians, consumers, hospitals, public health, technology developers, payers, researchers, policymakers - all health IT and care quality stakeholders - to continue developing shared goals and the roadmap for using interoperable health IT to improve health and health care quality, safety, and outcomes. Please read the paper and  the blog post that accompanies it and leave your comments on the Health IT Buzz blog (or  Interoperability Roadmap). 
Public Health Infographic  
ONC knows everyone loves its Infographics, so it published this one that explains how health IT enables Public Health Surveillance and can lead to faster, more complete reporting of outbreaks to public health agencies. Read the full report here...

CMS okays Illinois deadline extension for Eligible Hospital attestation to Jan. 31      

Illinois has received approval from CMS to move its deadline to Jan. 31, 2015, a month past the already reported Dec. 31 CMS extension for Eligible Hospitals (EHs) and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). The additional month was granted in Illinois because dual-eligible hospitals (those accepting both Medicare and Medicaid) need to attest for Medicare first, then Medicaid.  CMS had announced a deadline extension for EHs' and CAHs' to attest to meaningful use for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program 2014 reporting year from Nov. 30 to Dec. 31, 2014 (11:59 pm EST). In Illinois, however, the deadline has been extended to Jan. 31, 2015. Read more...

Learn More about the Protect Electronic Health Information Core Objective    

If you are a provider participating in the EHR Incentive Programs, conducting or reviewing a security risk analysis is required to meet  Stage 1 and Stage 2 of meaningful use. This meaningful use objective complements, but does not impose new or expanded requirements on the  HIPAA Security Rule.  Read more...  

JASON Report Part II 

A second JASON Report - Data for Individual Health - is out. The 93-page report says that while federal programs like the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs have largely focused on the "medical care of individuals, this report discusses how to expand this vision with a focus on the health of individuals and the development of a Learning Health System." The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) asked the distinguished JASON group to bring its considerable analytical power to bear on this problem: how to create a health information system that focuses on the health of individuals, not just the care they receive. JASON is an independent group of scientists and academics that has been advising the Federal government on matters of science and technology for over 50 years.

 

About FHIR, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, the JASONs write: "FHIR attempts to standardize the exchange of information through a set of modular components called Resources. Resources have standardized names and provide basic pieces of information, but can be extended to fulfill specialized requirements." The report expends a good bit of ink and pixels on the use of FHIR and APIs going forward. Read the blog postby Dr. Karen DeSalvo (@KBDeSalvo), Dr. Jon White, and Dr. Michael Painter (@paintmd).