CMS should improve its oversight of its electronic health record incentive program, according to a report by the Office of Inspector General released this month. The government watchdog agency faults CMS for both inadequate prepayment safeguards and insufficient postpayment monitoring of recipients of federal funding intended to help cover the costs of adoption and implementation
Meaningful Use
OIG EHR Questionnaire Focuses on Fraud Safeguards
By William Maruca on
Posted in Meaningful Use
The OIG is conducting a survey of hospitals who have certified the meaningful use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) Technology, with an emphasis on safeguards that protect the EHR systems from fraudulent access or alteration. A generous hospital compliance officer who has asked to remain nameless has provided me with a copy of the survey…
Patients’ “Meaningful Use” of Electronic Health Information Proposed as Core Measure for Provider Incentive Payments from Feds
By Elizabeth Litten on
Posted in Meaningful Use
Two new provisions in the Stage 2 “meaningful use” criteria measure the meaningful use required for provider incentive payments based not simply on the providers’ use of EHR, but on their patients’ use of it.…
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HIPAA Holidays – 5010 Enforcement and Stage 2 HITECH Compliance Extensions
By William Maruca on
Posted in Health IT, Meaningful Use
We all know how those year-end deadlines sneak up on us and how there never seems to be enough time to get everything done. Well, here’s some welcome news – The feds have decided to play Santa and give us a little more breathing room this season.
HIPAA 5010 Transition
CMS is transitioning its electronic…
Meaningful Users Can Now Attest Online And Qualify For CMS Incentives
By William Maruca on
Posted in Meaningful Use
Think you’re a Meaningful User of EHR? Now you can prove it to CMS and cash in. CMS has opened a web link under which entities who have met the meaningful EHR use criteria can attest that they qualify for the HITECH program’s first year incentives of up to $18,000. The first step is to sign up for…
Updated Guide to E-Prescribing Released
By William Maruca on
Posted in Meaningful Use
Six healthcare advocacy organizations have released an updated 2011 Guide to E-Prescribing, including Meaningful Use criteria under the HITECH Act. The document is a comprehensive guide for practices covering acquisition, implementation and utilization of e-prescribing technology. The original version was published in 2008, which is now relatively antiquated — technology years being roughly …
AMA, 38 Other Medical Groups Raise Concerns On Stage 2 Meaningful Use Proposals
By William Maruca on
Posted in Meaningful Use
In a detailed, 46-page letter dated February 25, 2011, the American Medical Association and 38 other medical societies raised serious concerns about the proposed set of requirements for Stage 2 of the Medicare/Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) meaningful use incentive programs.
The letter, addressed to Joshua Seidman, PhD of the Office of the National …
HITECH EMR Incentive Registration Opens January 3, 2011
By William Maruca on
Posted in HITECH Act, Meaningful Use
Early EHR adopters, mark your calendars: CMS will begin accepting registration for participation in the Medicare EHR incentive program beginning January 3, 2010. CMS will post a link to the registration process on its Registration and Attestation page on January 3. The sooner you apply, the sooner you can begin to qualify for the $44,000 in additional Medicare …
“We’re going to have to ride our bike and fix it at the same time.”
By William Maruca on
Posted in Meaningful Use
The virtual "ink" is barely dry on the July 13, 2010 final rule on Stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria, but the federally chartered Health IT Policy Committee is already beginning to talk about Stage 2. Modern Healthcare reports in a September 17 article (registration required) that the advisory body met this week to review a schedule …
CMS Answers Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Electronic Health Record Incentives
By William Maruca on
Posted in Meaningful Use
by Todd Rodriguez, Esquire
In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the much-anticipated final regulations that providers are required to meet in order to receive the Medicare incentives for adoption of a certified electronic health record system. In those regulations, In the final rule, CMS set forth 15 core elements…