Registration Began for Medicare EHR Incentive Program
Shortly after the new year, eligible physicians and hospitals began registering for the Medicare electronic health records (EHR) incentive program, a prerequisite for obtaining billions of dollars in available federal bonuses.
Implementation of this program will streamline health information services and provide more efficient patient care delivery. Here is some information that will help you understand the registration process for the Medicare EHR incentive program, which began on January 3rd.
Projected Rollout
Not all areas of the country will be implementing registration at the same time, so it is important to have an EHR representative to guide your facility through the process. Registration for the EHR incentive program will launch in January for Alaska, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
In February, registration will open in California, Missouri and North Dakota. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the remaining states will launch their EHR incentive program sign-ups in the spring and summer.
Resources Available
Officials with the CMS and the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology said they hope for broad registration by doctors and hospitals. The CMS website has numerous resources to provide physicians and hospitals with the latest information regarding the program.
Any clinician or hospital staff member who will be using EHR technology is encouraged to visit the website for the latest news and updates that will impact implementation of the program at the local level.
Registration and Other Deadlines
Physicians who want to participate must register in either the Medicare or Medicaid EHR incentive programs, but they must choose only one program — they cannot receive payments from both. However, after receiving a bonus for a given year, a physician may change a program selection once before 2015.
To register, consult your EHR representative, who will guide you through the registration process. The CMS website requires a 15-digit number for the certified EHR. If you have a 13-digit number (with two special characters), simply put two zeros (00) before the 13-digit number and omit the dashes.
In 2010, standards were set that doctors and hospitals must meet to demonstrate meaningful use of their EHR systems. Physicians can receive as much as $44,000 over a five-year period through Medicare and up to $63,750 over six years through Medicaid.
Recently, the first incentive payments were disbursed. The Gastorf Family Clinic of Durant, Oklahoma, a client of eMDs, was the nation's first physician recipient of the electronic health records incentive payment program administered through Medicare.
To get the maximum incentive payment, Medicare eligible professionals must begin participation by 2012. There are a number of key deadlines in 2011 that must be met in the implementation of the EMR program. For more information regarding those deadlines, consult your EHR representative.
e-MDs offers a host of affordable, certified EHR solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest electronic health records technology.
e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today's health care environment.
You can find additional detailed information about all the different services and benefits an EHR system has to offer your practice by contacting a representative right now at 1.888.344.9836 or sales@e-mds.com, or visiting them online at www.e-mds.com.
Questions and Answers
Article Tags:
emr
CompareEMR.com is a free resource for medical professionals who are shopping for electronic medical record systems.
New add-on services are being offered by medical transcription companies, which include documenting physician narrations within an EMR application that is in use by a healthcare facility. The transcription companies offer the service through multimodal platforms, which include setting up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with an existing Electronic Medical Record application in use by the healthcare facility.
In this article we elaborate that to make EMR Implementation to be successful some factors like to train staff nurses, to change and improve work flow, to schedule more EMR Training, to round on providers and clinical support staff and personalization and recognition of many differences among physicians play a most important role.
The right EMR software can help you REDUCE your staff number, expenses, medical errors and documentation time. However, buying the wrong EMR system can shape into a complete catastrophe.
Most EMR vendors as well as Physicians use EMR System and EMR Software interchangeably leading you to believe that they mean the same thing. In fact, as this article explains, they are quite different and in fact EMR Software is only one of the components of an EMR System
There have been a number of technologically advanced tools and equipments developed for the use of healthcare providers to further improve their practices. One popular example is EMR or Electronic Medical Records.
In Neuro-scientific medicine, applied studies more popularly generally known as translational research. It aims to supply plausible diagnostic, preventive or treatment strategies. This research practice is anticipated to create technologies, drugs and methods aimed at prevention and treatments for diseases
Sports tape, elastic therapeutic tape or athletic tape is a strip of cotton with acrylic adhesive used for treating injuries related to sports, athletics as well as other physical disorders. It is porous, non-elastic and lightweight but it also has a high tensile strength which makes it ideal for giving compression and firm support for the body.
Every time I stroll through a herbal or scented garden, I'm entranced by the way it calms my stress and relaxes my anxious mind. It's almost as if Nature laid the plants out especially for me. Parks and gardens are as old as civilization itself. In fact, even Adam and Eve are said to have had their own garden to explore.
Ma Huang is also known as ephedra. The acrid, slightly bitter and warm herb has been used in TCM to promote urination and sweating, and rid of cold, sooth wheezing asthma, etc. as it calms dyspnea, asthma, cough, etc., by enhancing the functions of lung and bladder channels.
Melatonin with valerian is considered to be a top notch pill which can surely assist a lot in getting rid of various sleep disorders and it is primarily utilized for better sleep when you are going through insomnia. Sleep is very important and one should get a proper sleep every night in order to stay perfectly alright in all perspectives. Life can surely excel in a better way if a good and healthy sleep is attained every day though people who are unable to get it on regular basis have to go thr
New regulations from the Health and Human services stipulate that patients have access to their electronic health records by Oct 2012. These new laws will help physicians take better care of their patients and will allow patients to keep better track of lab results and medications.
Recommended measures for Stage 2 of the EMR meaningful use program include measures unchanged from Stage 1, unchanged but no longer optional in Stage 2, higher thresholds in Stage 2, and new measures unique to Stage 2. Work with your vendor to address any gaps in required capabilities, but first make sure you have the right foundation in place to actually use the capabilities that are currently available.
AUSTIN, TX – e-MDs the provider of the nation's most highly rated electronic medical records, is pleased to announce they have been awarded a 2010 Surescripts White Coat of Quality for upholding the highest quality of standards in e-prescribing.
e-MDs client, Dr. Jen Brull of Plainville, Kansas is Kansas' First Physician to be Federally Certified for Meaningful Use. e-MDs offers a host of affordable, certified EHR solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest electronic health records technology.
Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs) were created to provide medical patients a unified home-base from which all healthcare needs could be addressed. As new studies suggest that Patient-Centered Medical Homes improve healthcare and reduce unnecessary costs such as those incurred in duplicate procedures, large and small healthcare providers throughout the nation are restructuring their practices as PCMHs.
Discuss this Article
