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June 2015
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In this issue of REConnection...

Welcome to the June issue of REConnectionWe have lots of great information to share with you. 

Here are some of the highlights:


As always, we welcome your feedback and story ideas. Just email us at REConnection Feedback.

Best Regards,

The RI REC Team

Alison Delano of Thundermist Health Center in West Warwick
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CurrentCare delivers "On the Spot" utilization and enrollment awards to local practice winners

Thundermist Health Center's Alison Delano won the CurrentCare "On the Spot" award for May for most patient lookups in the CurrentCare Viewer. Alison was treated to a bag of CurrentCare goodies that included a mouse pad, CurrentCare pads and pens, and a $20 gift card to Dunkin' Donuts.

In between lookups, we managed to ask Alison a few questions about her experience:

How has CurrentCare helped you do your job?

If a patient doesn't remember where they went for a test and the results haven't been sent to us, I can look for the results in CurrentCare. If my EHR alerts me that a patient needs a colonoscopy, mammogram, or other test, I ask the patient if they had one done recently and check CurrentCare.

What pieces of information do you find most useful?

  • Procedures and labs: Pap smear, colonoscopy, mammogram, PTINR, A1C. CurrentCare is helping us meet quality measures on some of these.
  • Medications: especially to find which specialists a patient has seen.

Do you have recommendations for others in similar roles?

If you don't have access to results from a hospital system or lab, CurrentCare can help you find the results, even if the patient doesn't remember where they went.

Norma Santo, of Hope Medical Group in Cranston, won the CurrentCare "On the Spot" award for the most improved enrollment numbers from month to month, for May.

"I love CurrentCare," Norma said last week, when she was presented with her award.

The entire CurrentCare staff would like to thank Alison and Norma for their dedication to enrolling patients in CurrentCare!
Norma Santo of Hope Medical Group celebrates with CurrentCare's Suzette Santos.

Contact us to set CurrentCare enrollment and/or utilization goals for 2015 to be eligible for an "On the Spot" award and be entered into a raffle to win a Kindle Fire!

If you need new forms, posters, or a pickup of completed forms, please contact the Rhode Island Quality Institute at 888.858.4815, or send an email to CurrentCare@riqi.org.

 

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CurrentCare offers online enrollment incentive

 

While 462,000 residents have already enrolled in CurrentCare (nearly 1 in 2), the Rhode Island Quality Institute is looking for ways to increase this number. We are offering $100 gift cards to the first 10 practices that send an email to their unenrolled patients encouraging them to sign up. It's that easy. 

 

CurrentCare, Rhode Island's health information exchange, is the No. 1 way to share patient health information quickly and accurately. And it can save you time and money. It's that simple.

 

Here's what you need to do:

 

  • Contact RIQI to learn how to securely submit a patient panel
  • Receive back a list of patients who are not enrolled in CurrentCare
  • Use RIQI's email template, that includes a link to the enrollment form
  • Email the message to your patients who have not enrolled. That's it!

 

And as a thank-you for your hard work, RIQI will send you a $100 gift card to Panera Bread so you can treat your staff to a great lunch!

 

To get started, contact Brian Miller at 401-276-9141 x 286, or drop him an email at bmiller@riqi.org.

 

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 Join us for our new series:
CurrentCare Quick Bites

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Want to learn more about Viewer in just 15 minutes?

 

Join us for CurrentCare Quick Bites - a lunchtime series of short, 15-minute updates about CurrentCare. Our experts, Peggy Menna and Andrea Levesque, will present information about new and updated features and helpful tips about using CurrentCare in your practice. We'll even start at 12:15 to give you time to grab your lunch and dial in. We hope you'll join us!

 

How to Print from the CurrentCare Viewer REGISTER HERE

Wednesday, July 8, 2015, 12:15 - 12:30 pm 

 

The CurrentCare Viewer offers a wealth of information in various formats. Join us for a demonstration on how to print labs, pathology and imaging reports, and information in the Summary report.

 

Improving Quality Measures using CurrentCare REGISTER HERE

Wednesday, August 5, 2015 12:15 - 12:30 pm 

 

Improve quality measures and save staff time all at once? Yes, CurrentCare helps you do both! You're welcome! Tune in to see how CurrentCare can help you find the information you need to avoid chasing down results or reordering them, and improve your quality measures at the same time!

 

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ICD-10 deadline will be here quicker than you think

Avoid the rush: Now's the time to update your processes for the
October 1, 2015 deadline. Need some help? Check out the CMS Quick Start Guide
 for answers to your pressing ICD-10 questions!


 
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The New England QIN-QIO: PQRS/VM Q&A Corner


 
New Medicare data available to increase transparency on hospital and physician utilization

The Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data: Physician and Other Supplier Public Use File 2013 data is now available. Learn more  

eCQM Update for Eligible Professionals (EP)

Annual updates for the eCQMs are now on the eCQI Resource Center.  May 2015 Update for the 2016 Reporting Year - EPs

2015 PQRS GPRO: Register by June 30, 2015

Groups have until June 30th to register to participate in the 2015 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) Group Practice Reporting Option (GPRO) via the Physician Value - Physician Quality Reporting System (PV-PQRS) Registration System. PQRS GPRO is an option available to groups with 2 or more eligible professionals (EPs). Groups must meet the satisfactory reporting criteria through the PQRS GPRO in order to avoid the -2.0% CY 2017 PQRS payment adjustment. More information is available on the PQRS Payment Adjustment Information web page.

Physicians in groups of all sizes and physician solo practitioners are subject to the Value Modifier in 2017, based on performance in 2015. Under the Value Modifier, these physicians and groups must meet the criteria to avoid the downward payment adjustment under PQRS in order to avoid an additional automatic downward adjustment under the Value Modifier and qualify for adjustments based on their quality performance. Satisfactorily reporting via a PQRS GPRO is one of the ways groups can avoid automatic downward adjustments and qualify for performance-based payment incentives under the Value Modifier. See What Physicians Need to do in 2015 for the 2017 VM on the Value Modifier web page for more information.

Physician groups with 2 or more EPs that choose not to register, must ensure that at least 50% of the EPs in the group meet the criteria to avoid the 2017 PQRS payment adjustment as individuals in order for the group to avoid the automatic 2017 Value Modifier downward payment adjustment (-2.0% or -4.0% depending on the group's size).

The Registration System can be accessed using a valid Individuals Authorized Access to the CMS Computer Services (IACS) account. CMS strongly encourage groups to obtain an IACS account and register by June 26, since registration will close on June 30, 2015. CMS will be transitioning to a new Enterprise Identity Management (EIDM) system in the upcoming months; therefore, all registrations must be received before the deadline. Stay tuned for more information and resources in the coming weeks and months about the EIDM. In the meantime, please ensure that your IACS account is active, current, and you're able to log in. This will help ensure a smoother transition to EIDM. Instructions for obtaining an IACS account with the correct role are provided on the PQRS GPRO Registration web page. Instructions for registering to participate in the 2015 PQRS GPRO are provided in the 2015 PQRS GPRO Registration Guide.

Do You Have a Question?

Please submit your PQRS/VM questions to neqinqio@healthcentricadvisors.org and they will answer you directly. Questions & Answers that have a more global interest will be posted in this corner and serve to inform future NE QIN-QIO informational webinars.

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Rhode Island Medical Society Journal: June Edition

RIQI is pleased to share the latest edition of the Rhode Island Medical Journal, the monthly publication of the Rhode Island Medical Society. 

 

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The RI Regional Extension Center (RI REC) is a service of the Rhode Island Quality Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety, and value of health care in Rhode Island. To learn more, visit www.TransformYourPracticeRI.org.

 

RI REC and its services and materials are made possible through a grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology with US Department of Health and Human Services support. 

 

REConnection is intended to provide the Rhode Island healthcare community and other interested stakeholders with timely news and information about RI REC's programs, resources, and educational activities that support the adoption of health information technology.


To learn more about participating in RI REC's Health IT Adoption, HIE/CurrentCare, and Direct Adoption Programs, please call  888-924-4156 or write to rirec@riqi.org.