Friday, October 23, 2009

MSSNY and NYC DOH PCIP RHITEC Applications

MSSNY Collaborates with New York eHealth Collaborative to Apply as RHITEC for counties outside NYC.

NYC DOH PCIP applies to be a RHITEC for the counties within NYC.

Click on the link below to complete a non-binding agreement to assist MSSNY and NYC DOH PCIP in their efforts. This is open to specialists and primary care physicians. SV


Support Agreement

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

HIMSS EHR ARRA Webinar

Invitation for EHR Special Interest Group ARRA Webinar
Friday, October 23, 2009
11:00 am - 1:00 pm Eastern


This is an invitation on behalf of the HIMSS EHR SIG to invite you to an ARRA Webinar on Friday, October 23rd from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. eastern time. We will have a speaker from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services who will speak to the $30M that was just released for grants. In addition, we will have six vendors including Siemens, Eclipsys, Cerner, NextGen Healthcare, GE Healthcare, and eClinicalWorks who will discuss what they are doing within their respective organizations to respond to ARRA as well as how they are assisting their customers to do the same. All but one vendor, has confirmed as of today's date.

This will be an exciting webinar that will further the membership's ability to be responsive to this landmark legislation that was passed this year related to healthcare technology. Please mark your calendar's accordingly. Registration for this webinar is required. Please follow the directions below to register for this event.


Registration Information

1. Go to https://himss.webex.com/himss/j.php?ED=123021797&RG=1&UID=0&RT=MiM3
2. Register for the meeting.

Once the host approves your request, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the meeting.

Monday, October 12, 2009

NaviNet offers State Governments free Health Information Exchange and has been chosen by Horizon BCBSNJ for its web portal

August 24 2009. NaviNet (formerly NaviMedix), America’s largest real-time healthcare communications network, today announced the NaviNet Health Information Exchange (HIE), a solution that combines the NaviNet Provider Network of more than 770,000 providers nationwide, and NaviNet technology and services. The NaviNet HIE is now available to all state governments and U.S. territories at no cost, enabling more efficient implementation and expansion of local health data exchange. Adoption of NaviNet HIE minimizes technology investment requirements, providing states and territories a rapid and cost-effective way to offer their own branded health information exchange to electronically connect physicians, hospitals, insurers and existing HIEs in their regions. NaviNet is already used by two out of every three U.S. healthcare providers, and leading national, commercial and Blues health plans, resulting in significant costs savings to the industry.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – October 12, 2009 – NaviNet, America’s largest real-time health care communications network, and New Jersey’s largest health insurer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBSNJ), announced today an agreement in which Horizon BCBSNJ will use NaviNet’s multi-payer, Web-based portal as its exclusive secure information exchange with providers. With NaviNet, providers will be able to reduce paperwork, simplify the administrative process and reduce expenses by electronically exchanging patient information, claims data and benefit information with Horizon BCBSNJ.


NaviNet


NaviNet BCBSNJ

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Electronic Medical Record Survey Results: Medscape Exclusive Readers' Choice: Advice on Choosing an EMR

More than 3700 readers responded to the survey. The EMRs that readers evaluated included Allscripts, Epic, Misys (now Allscripts), Centricity, e-MDs, eClinicalWorks, Practice Partner, Sage, Greenway, Amazing Charts, and others.


Medscape
ACP COPD Portal

The ACP has just added the COPD Portal which joins the Diabetes Portal and Cardiology guidelines on the ACP Clinical Information site. It also includes information for patients to read. Check it out. SV


Because COPD is an often overlooked public health issue, ACP has created the COPD Portal to provide you with high quality, evidence-based clinical information and resources to help you care for your patients. This free Website provides concise answers to specific clinical and practice-management questions about COPD, and also features a patient education section to aid the patient in managing the disease and its complications. The ACP COPD Portal is updated weekly and includes searchable content from MKSAP, Annals of Internal Medicine, ACP Internist, ACP Journal Club, and ACP’s Physicians’ Information and Education Resource (PIER). The Clinician Resources area of the Portal is organized into three categories: quality, practice issues, and clinical topics. The quality and practice issues categories include information about:


Chronic Care Models
Patient Registry Tutorials
Electronic Medical Records
Patient Education
The clinical topics section includes:

Prevention and Screening
Diagnosis
Acute Exacerbations
Smoking Cessation
Complications
Stable and End-Stage COPD

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

USA e-Prescribing physician counts exceeded 100,000 in 2009 as per SureScripts

The number is sure to increase faster as Government and Private payers provide financial inducements to use the system. SV



SureScripts
Submit PQRI Data Through NCQA Recognition Programs

NCQA Diabetes and Back Pain Recognition Programs Approved by Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative for 2009
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) accepted two popular NCQA Recognition Programs for measures group reporting for the purposes of the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). Physicians, chiropractors and nurse practitioners who have earned Recognition from NCQA through the Diabetes (DRP) and Back Pain Recognition (BPRP) Programs now have the opportunity to enjoy an extra benefit: they may opt to have NCQA submit their clinical quality data to Medicare for use in the PQRI.

Providers participating in Medicare's PQRI program receive financial rewards for collecting and reporting practice data about the quality of their care. In 2008, that reward was equal to 1.5 percent of each Medicare FFS Part B claim; in 2009 it rose to 2 percent.

Data for the 2009 PQRI registry can be submitted to NCQA through January 31, 2010. All of the received data will be submitted to CMS by NCQA in March of 2010.

Participation through NCQA's PQRI registry is open to all interested providers. Ways to join:
1. For DRP & BPRP Recognized providers: Clinicians, who are already recognized by NCQA, would have to submit their qualifying data from the 2009 reporting period to receive PQRI incentive payments. In addition, each clinician must provide NCQA with a written authorization that his/her data can be shared with CMS. 30 patients rather than the 25 necessary for Recognition are required in the submittal, and data must be submitted on at least 2 Medicare Fee for Service patients. The submission fee is $150 (per clinician) for resubmitting data for PQRI.

2. For providers currently applying for or considering applying for NCQA's DRP or BPRP program: Eligible providers should submit to NCQA their Recognition Program application along with a written authorization from each clinician that his/her data can be shared with CMS. 30 patients rather than the 25 necessary for Recognition are required in the submittal, and data must be submitted on at least 2 Medicare Fee for Service patients. NCQA is providing clinicians with this opportunity to qualify for the 2009 PQRI registry as an added feature to the Recognition process.

"Physicians and others who participate in PQRI through NCQA Recognition enjoy the two-fold benefit of being recognized for superb care, as well as being rewarded by Medicare for reporting clinical data," said NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane.

For more information, including instructions and frequently asked questions, visit NCQA Web site at www.ncqa.org/Recognition.



About NCQA
National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and recognizes physicians in key clinical areas. NCQA's HEDIS is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices. For more information, visit http://www.ncqa.org.

1100 13th Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005
Telephone: 202/955-3500 | Fax: 202/955-3599
Customer Support: 888/275-7585
http://www.ncqa.org

Thursday, October 01, 2009

NYSHealth Hosts "A Conversation With Rachel Block"

Building a robust Health Information Technology system can bring a great number of benefits, including lower costs, greater efficiency, and better health outcomes. However, the obstacles to creating such a system are also great: the technology is expensive; it comes with a number of privacy issues; and perhaps most daunting, a lack of standards for Health IT means that records from one provider may not synch with records from another.

With the national health reform debate generating momentum for expanding Health IT, on September 24, 2009, NYSHealth invited Rachel Block, Deputy Commissioner for Health IT Transformation for New York State, to lead a discussion about the State's current efforts to encourage wide-scale adoption of these technologies. Please click here to read more about the event and to view Rachel Block's presentationNY.
Patient Centered Medical Home Presentations now available


Based upon the feedback received on this past year's presentations, we are now accepting requests to schedule additional presentations in the NY-NJ-CT Tri-State area.
The current lecture team includes a NCQA PCMH Level 3 physician and an HIT consultant with NCQA experience.

Please send your requests to svolpe@svolpemd.com