QHN Direct Supports MU Stage 2 - Transitions in Care 

On April 17, Quality Health Network and the Colorado Rural Health Center will be presenting: MU Stage 2 - Transitions in Care -Understanding how HISP and Secure Email (Direct) are Part of the Solution.

Marc Lassaux, QHN CTO, will provide participants with an overview of HISP and Direct and how they support the Transitions of Care objective found in Meaningful Use Stage 2. Use case demos will be provided and regional/community wide solutions will be explored. Lil Sonntag, HIT and Meaningful Use Consultant, Colorado Rural Health Center, will review the benefits of Direct for Rural Healthcare.

The program is being held at the Grand Junction Courtyard Marriott, registration at 9:30 a.m., with the program scheduled for 10 am- 2 pm. Click here for full event details. 

QHN Repository Access Policy Revised to Include Provider Care Teams 

The new policy expands access to care teams of QHN participating physician providers, who agree to assume the responsibility and consequences for the monitoring of the care team members appropriate usage.  This progressive move is in response to QHN subscriber's requests to expand repository access to leverage patient information across the continuum of care for improved care coordination and practice workflow.

"Having our medical office staff access to the QHN repository has definitely reduced the steps to get a patient ready to be seen by the physician and improved efficiency" said Dr. Collin Sharp, general surgeon with Montose Surgical Associates. "Having repository access is like having a unified patient chart; it has saved us from duplicating testing and screening exams. I have also found that my staff feels more fulfilled in their work and feel like they are able to perform their jobs better."

Dr. Sharp's office worked with QHN to pilot the new repository access policies and procedures. A primary focus for QHN is always patient privacy and security, pilots of this nature help ensure all potential concerns regarding appropriate usage have been met. As a member of the Montrose Memorial Hospital IT Advisory Committee, which provides input, advice and feedback to QHN, Dr. Sharp was instrumental in prompting the new repository access policy adopted by the QHN Board. 

The QHN policy section (16.1.3) that addresses the new repository (VHR) access may be viewed here. QHN subscribers who are interested in having members of their care team access the QHN repository will need to complete the QHN New User paper work.  For more information regarding the policy change and the process to add members of your care team, please contact your QHN Clinical Account Manager.

On Monday, March 31, 2014 the Senate voted to delay the scheduled cuts in physician payments under Medicare and delay the switch to ICD-10 billing codes by a year, to October 2015. Physicians were to sustain a 24 percent cut in Medicare payments starting April 1, unless Congress acted to "patch" Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula. The House passed the same legislation last week. This is the 17th time a delay has been approved in the poorly designed SGR formula. The bill is expected to be signed into law by the President

Many large and influential physician groups posed strong opposition to this move as they have formed a unified voice promoting a permanent SGR repeal. The concern continues to be that the 24 percent cuts under SGR will force some practices to stop seeing Medicare patients or even force some practices out of business. This is particularly concerning in areas with high population concentrations of people over the age of 65 and in rural areas where provider shortages are prevalent. 

Location: Quality Health Network - 744 Horizon Court, Suite #210

This new tool is designed to help providers in small to medium sized practices with HIPAA compliance.

The tool helps practices conduct and document a risk assessment, identify security risks and produce a report to provide to auditors. 

The Windows application is available for download here. The iOS iPad version is available from the Apple App Store.

Watch the Security Risk Analysis video.