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Enjoy your Quarterly News from your West Texas Health IT Regional Extension Center (WTxHITREC) and please feel free to forward this email to any of your colleagues or interested parties.
The WTxHITREC continues to support primary care providers, specialty practices, dentists and hospitals in selecting, implementing, and achieving meaningful use of certified EHR products through technical on-site assistance, guidance, and education of best practices.
As a reminder, if you are a Primary Care Provider, practicing Internal Medicine, Family Practice, OB/GYN or Pediatrics, and not currently a member of the WTxHITREC, we invite you to ENROLL NOW with NO initial enrollment fee!
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| Millions in Incentive Payments Received by West Texas! | | |
We are proud to announce that based on data through February 2013, WTxHITREC advisors have assisted eligible providers to receive $7,781,752 in Medicaid EHR incentive payments and $2,784,614 in Medicare incentives.
This is great news for our West Texas providers and a testament of their dedication to the transformation of health care. |
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Provider Spotlight | | |
Jose Luna, MD
Meaningful Use Vanguard
Dr. Jose Luna recently qualified and attested to Meaningful Use of the electronic health record (EHR) at Centro San Vicente, a Federally Qualified Health Center in El Paso, TX. As Chief Clinical Officer for the organization, Dr. Luna has assumed a definite leadership role for use of EHRs and has been recognized as a Meaningful Use Vanguard by the West Texas Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (WTxHITREC) for his leadership in the national EHR transition. He meets with staff on a regular basis and takes on a coaching/mentoring role with providers. Dr. Luna spoke about some of the lessons learned along the Centro San Vicente journey.
Click here to read more
Submitted by
Becky Jones, MSN, RN-BC, CPHQ
WTxHITREC Regional Coordinator |
| CMS/EHR Incentive Audits! | |
Are you prepared?
Did you know if a five-provider practice fails to completely pass the CMS/EHR Incentive Payment Program Audit they may have to return up to $90,000?
Contact the WTxHITREC today and utilize our expertise to prepare you for these impending audits. |
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Healthcare Milestone Achieved! | | 
HHS, CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT announced an important healthcare milestone - more than 50% of eligible professionals nationwide are using EHRs meaningfully in their offices and more than 80% of U.S. hospitals are using EHRs.
Click here to read more |
| 2013 Meaningful Use Deadlines | |
· Providers eligible for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program who do not meet Stage 1 Meaningful Use in 2013 will lose out on approximately $15,000 in incentive payments.
· Providers who are eligible for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program and will bill more than $20,000 to Medicare Part B will be affected by payment adjustments in 2015 if they do not meet Stage 1 Meaningful Use in 2013.
· For those subject to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) e-prescribing penalty, June 30 is the last day to submit a hardship exemption, or report 10 instances of e-prescribing on claims to CMS to avoid next year's 2 percent payment reduction. Providers who are penalized will see this reduction on each Medicare Part B claim as it is processed Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2014. |
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The ICD-10 Transition | | 
As of October 1, 2014 the ICD-9 code sets that are currently used to report medical diagnoses and inpatient procedures will be replaced by the ICD-10 code set. The switch to ICD-10 is mandatory for any and all organizations covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), including those who do not deal with Medicare claims.
This transition is occurring because the codes currently used do not report specific data about patients' medical conditions and procedures. The ICD-9 code set is over 30 years old and has outdated terms and conditions, which creates inconsistency with current medical practices. Diagnosis coding under the ICD-10 format will use three to seven digits instead of the three to five digits used with ICD-9 today. The use of ICD-10 codes will be much more specific and allow for a better analysis with disease and public health patterns, as well as provide more room for expansion and more detailed healthcare.
Click here to read more
Submitted by
Cappi Phillips
WTxHITREC Regional Coordinator
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| Texas "White Space" Strategy Collaboration Report | | |
In March 2010, the Office of the National Coordinator awarded Texas with a four year, $28.8 million grant to help foster the growth of a health information exchange ("HIE") infrastructure in Texas. The Texas Health Services Authority ("THSA"), under contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission ("HHSC"), is responsible for convening health care stakeholders in the development and implementation of HIE in Texas. THSA has been actively engaged in continuously improving and expanding HIE services in Texas so that, overtime, HIE services will be available to all health care providers in Texas, which will ultimately improve the quality and efficiency of health care.
As part of its HIE development efforts, the THSA established a marketplace of qualified Health Information Service Providers ("HISPs") to provide physicians and hospitals located in rural areas of Texas, which is known as the Texas "White Space," the opportunity to participate in HIE.
Click here to read more
Submitted by
Cole Johnson, JD
WTxHITREC Director of Contracts, Reporting, Security & Policy
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Do you have any issues you would like to know more about or see in the next newsletter?
If so, please contact the WTxHITREC with any newsletter additions, questions or service needs at 806-743-7960 or info@wtxhitrec.org
Sincerely,
Carson Scott, MPA
Director Marketing, Outreach, Education & Communications
WTxHITREC - Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
806-743-7467
carson.scott@ttuhsc.edu
www.wtxhitrec.org |
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