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Primary Care Redesign: Patient-Centered Medical Homes
Thursday, July 18, 2013
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (MT)
(locate the title of the webinar and click on register)
Please join us for a one-hour webinar to learn more about Patient-Centered Medical Homes. Participants will receive an overview of core Medical Home features, as well as current national and local initiatives to facilitate implementation in Utah's Primary Care Practices.
................................... Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) - Avoid Payment Adjustment by Reporting in 2013Thursday, August 8, 2013 12:00 - 1:00p.m. (MT)
Save the Date!
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Learning and Action Network: Discovery Learning Series
Every 2nd & 4th Wednesdays of the month from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. (ET)
Please join us for a series of
interactive, dynamic adult learning events that will cover a series of quality improvement topics.
Whether you are planning your next staff meeting or participating in a Learning & Action Network, these sessions will be highly interactive, engaging, disciplined, fast-moving and content rich.
Click here for more information
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Feedback
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Please let us know if you found this month's edition useful, or if you have suggestions for the focus of future articles.
We are sending you this monthly publication to spread the news on information relevant to your clinic and to inspire you to keep up the good work. Please feel free to forward this newsletter by using the "Forward this email" button at the bottom of the email. Each edition will also be archived on our website. You may
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Greetings!
Welcome to the Clinically Speaking eNewsletter. We hope you find this monthly newsletter a valuable resource as we keep you updated on healthcare specific issues, such as; diabetes care, health information technology, cardiac care, and upcoming events that are relevant to your work.
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Lost Patient Reappears Based on
Quality Care Perception
Cheryl Simpkiss, Project Coordinator, HealthInsight
 What really constitutes "quality care" from a patient perspective? This is a question that is often debated in healthcare and health policy circles. From the patient's perspective, "quality care" is based on their own internal experience - how the clinical staff made them feel from an emotional standpoint rather than any evidence based clinical intervention or outcome measure. A recent event from one of the outpatient clinics at Intermountain Healthcare participating in the IC3 Beacon Program highlights this conundrum, and is a lesson more clinicians might want to note.
A patient diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus had not been seen in the Intermountain Salt Lake Clinic for over two years. While she remained on the active patient panel and was treated as though she was still an active patient, none of the clinic staff knew what was really going on with her. Read more. . .
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Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) - Avoid Medicare Payment Adjustment by Reporting in 2013
David R. Cook, MBA,
Director of Operations, Utah, HealthInsight
Eligible providers who do not report to Medicare as part of the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) in 2013 become subject to a negative payment adjustment of 1.5% of total Medicare payments starting in 2015. Eligible providers include physicians, practitioners, and therapists. For a full list of eligible providers visit http://tinyurl.com/pmpvpoo. The best way to avoid this adjustment is to successfully report quality measures, in most cases three measures, by way of one of the many PQRS reporting routes (e.g. EHR Direct, Data Submission Vendor, Claims-based, Registry reporting, or Group Practice). Which route is best for you depends on your situation and what electronic system is used. By reporting successfully in 2013, providers qualify for a small incentive payment (0.5%), receive quality feedback reports on the measures reported, avoid the payment adjustment, and prepare for the upcoming value based payment modifier. Read more. . .
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$149 Million Opportunity: Are You Looking for a Way to Pay for that New Electronic Health Record (EHR) System?
David H. Smith, MBA
Utah Regional Extension Center Manager, HealthInsight
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as of April 2013, 2,415 medical providers have received payment for performing Meaningful Use in the state of  Utah bringing in a total of $72,503,835 (Services, 2013). However, there are still approximately 3,185 providers that have not yet started their path to Meaningful Use. Many of these providers may be in smaller clinics with staff that may be unsure of whom to contact or help them with accomplishing implementation and Meaningful Use attainment. Meaningful Use is a standard for using an EHR system with 3 stages, or sets of requirements, that can help providers measure their own quality and improve care coordination. Eligible providers can choose either the Medicare program to receive up to $44,000 ($39,000 if starting in 2013) or the Medicaid program to receive up to $63,750. Medicare eligible providers who fail to achieve a year of Meaningful Use will lose that year's incentive payment, but may continue to receive additional payments if they get back on track. Read more. . .
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Apply Today for the Physician Office HealthInsight Quality Award!
The Physician Office HealthInsight Quality Award aims to promote excellence in health care. By using available quality data to identify gaps in care, high performing physician office practices will improve the quality of health care they provide. The 2013 Physician Office HealthInsight Quality Award will be presented to physician office practices that meet the following criteria: - Exemplary performance on nationally-recognized clinical outcome measures,
- Regular use of population care management methods,
- Participation in a data reporting quality initiative; and
- Patient engagement tools and strategies incorporated into care processes.
Click here for more information. View and complete the HealthInsight Quality Award application. Please note: The award application formatting in Internet Explorer may not be ideal. We recommend using Firefox or Chrome.
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Privacy and Security -
More Important than Ever 
Carlyn M. Choate, MSHI, CHPS
HIT Project Coordinator, HealthInsight
HealthInsight and the Utah Regional Extension Center want all physicians to be apprised of the complexity of meeting the requirements for Core Measure 15- Privacy and Security. As we know from our Medicaid database breach experience in Utah, organizations, physicians, covered entities, and their business associates must maintain vigilance in protecting health information. Taking these requirements seriously will ensure Meaningful Use payments and protect practices, patients, and organizations from potential breaches.
If you are one of the many providers who have successfully reached Meaningful Use, you may not be aware, but early adopters to the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program have been subject to Meaningful Use Attestation audits to verify the accuracy and validity of core and menu measures reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Read more. . .
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Tell Us Your Story!  You've heard from us, now we want to hear from you! What activities or interventions are you and your team currently working on that might help others in their work? Are there lessons you have learned along the way - both successes and failures - from your work with patients, family members, or providers that you are willing to share. Please email us and briefly describe in a a few sentences your story!
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About Our Work
This information is provided by HealthInsight, a private, non-profit, community-based organization dedicated to improving health and health care. HealthInsight serves as the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, Beacon Community, and Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center in Utah. HealthInsight leads an initiative to improve diabetes care, cardiac care, population-based care, and improve the use of health information technology. To learn more about us, visit our website at: www.healthinsight.org
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This material was prepared by HealthInsight, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Nevada and Utah, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. 10SOW-UT-2013-PO-55 This material was prepared by HealthInsight as part of our work as the IC3 Beacon Community, under grant #90BC00006 and as the Regional Extension Center for Nevada and Utah, under Cooperative Agreement #90RC0033/01 from the Office of the National Coordinator, Department of Health and Human Services.
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