HIMSS eNurse Mentoring Program

Once again, HIMSS, is leading the way for sharing HIT guidance. SV

Welcome to the eNurse Mentoring Program, developed in collaboration between HIMSS Career Services and HIMSS Nursing Informatics. This program will give our members the opportunity to become connected to nationally recognized leaders in nursing. If you have a question you would like to ask our mentors pertaining to career growth and advancement and looking for possible insights into processes and thoughts not otherwise found in the health IT arena please submit your question to: hfigge@himss.org. A new question will be posted monthly.

By creating this eNurse Mentoring Program, HIMSS Professional Development Career Services strives to strengthen our members' abilities to connect to industry leaders focusing on nursing leadership, healthcare IT and management systems for HIMSS members at various stages of their health IT careers.

NYS Designated Phase I Medicaid Health Homes

On November 1, 2011, the NYSDOH received 61 Health Home applications to serve the ten counties in Phase 1. All applications were reviewed by a broad multidisciplinary team representing many perspectives including the NYS Department of Health's Offices of Health Insurance Programs, Health Information Technology and the AIDS Institute; the NYS Office of Mental Health; the NYS Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services; and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Twenty-one applicants are being conditionally approved as Phase 1 Medicaid Health Homes. The contingent approved Health Homes are by region:

Bronx

Montefiore Medical Center (establishing the Bronx Accountable Healthcare Network) with Acacia Network; Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Morris Heights Health Center; St. Barnabas Hospital; & Union Community Health Center

NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation + MetroPlus Health Plan

Visiting Nurse Service of New York Home Care + Institute for Family Health; Argus Community; Help PSI Inc.; Urban Health Plan, Inc.; & Community Healthcare Network

Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center + CBC/FEGS Health and Human Services System, Inc., IHealth/Help PSI Inc.; Bronxworks; Allmed Medical Centers; Corinthian IPA, Essen Medical.

Brooklyn

Maimonides Medical Center + Lutheran Medical Center; Institute for Community Living; FEGS Health and Human Services System, Inc.; Visiting Nurse Service of New York; First to Care Home Care; Jewish Board of Family and Children Services; Promoting Specialized Care and Health; Center for Urban and Community Services

NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation + MetroPlus Health Plan

Community Health Care Network

Institute for Community Living + Coordinated Behavioral Care, Inc.

Long Island /Nassau

North Shore - Long Island Jewish Health System + LI Federally Qualified Health Center (LIFQHC) and Nassau University Medical Center (NuHealth)

FEGS Health and Human Services System, Inc. + Nassau County Mental Health, Chemical Dependency and Developmental Disabilities Services
Schenectady

Visiting Nurse Service of Schenectady County, Inc. + Ellis Hospital; Hometown Health Center; Capital District Physicians Health Plan

Northern Region (Clinton, Essex, Fhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifranklin, Hamilton, Warren, Washington cos.)

Adirondack Health Institute, Inc. + Hudson Headwaters Health Network; Community Partners, Inc.; & Adirondack Health

Glens Falls Hospital + Capital District Physicians Health Plan

View the full list of network partners by region and/or county.

Disruptive Technology Leadership: From EHRs to iPads

Kristopher P. Kusche, M.Eng., CISSP, CPHIMS, FHIMSS
Vice President, Information Services - Technology Management
Albany Medical Center

Friday, December 9th, 1:00 - 2:00 PM Eastern / 12:00 - 1:00 PM Central

A review for IT executives of the adoption of disruptive technologies, measuring the impacts of such adoption, and an experience-based methodology of managing the process:
• Understanding disruptive technologies and the drivers of need/desire;
• Measure the benefits and challenges of adopting disruptive technologies;
• Identify management strategies around adopting disruptive technologies; and
• Review disruptive technologies on the HIT horizon.



Registration Link

CDPHP adds additional funding to help Specialists adopt EHRs

Insurer's Dollars Push Specialists onto EHR Highway

N.Y. health insurer adds $1 million to the pot to help specialists implement electronic health records, qualify for Meaningful Use, and use health information exchange

November 25, 2011

Information Week

By Nicole Lewis



http://informationweek.com/news/healthcare/interoperability/232200150



Brief:

Article reports that a health insurance provider, Capital District Physicians Health Plan, is providing $1 million to help 800 specialists within its network to implement health IT. Article mentions that the funding will go to pay for consultation services to help specialists select EHRs, attest to Meaningful Use, and connect to an HIE. Article includes comments from Dr. Bruce Nash, senior VP of medical affairs and CMO at CDPHP, who says that this funding is necessary because specialists are a critical piece to making an HIE work by connecting them to primary care providers.

New York State Medicaid EHR Incentive Program


Information about the program can be found at www.emedny.org


The NY Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Support Team can be reached at hit@health.state.ny.us, or 800-278-3960. The MEIPASS HelpDesk can be reached at 877-646-5410.

The Second Annual PharmEHR Summit March 2012

SAVE THE DATE

PDR Network Presents

The Second Annual
PharmEHR Summit
March 20-21, 2012
Philadelphia Hyatt at the Bellevue

This exclusive, invitation-only event will bring together senior executives from the bio/pharmaceutical industry, the FDA and EHRs to discuss, demonstrate and design practical means to deliver drug safety, risk management, patient support, marketing services and regulatory messages within physician workflow via EHRs. Key areas of discussion will include:

EHR adoption and the powerful impact on physician decision-making: “The New MD Desktop”
Regulatory and brand message integration into the new physician workflow
Improving prescription fulfillment and medication adherence using EHRs

Additional information, including a detailed agenda and registration information will be provided in the coming weeks. For more, please contact PDR Network representative Thomas Eck at (201) 358-7424 or via email at thomas.eck@pdr.net.

This event is brought to you by PDR Network – the trusted leader in physician communication for more than 65 years.

HIMSS HIT Body of Knowledge


Check out this new service at HIMSS.

Happy Thanksgiving.sv

The HIMSS Health IT Body of Knowledge provides a rich and organized compilation of content that introduces the reader to essential definitions, descriptions and discussions of key topic areas related to health information systems and management. If you are new to healthcare and/or new to healthcare IT, this site will provide information on the basics that you need to know to become grounded in the field and to succeed. The reader will find this resource useful in gaining knowledge about a specific topic related to health IT or to gain a more complete knowledge of health information systems and management. The Health IT Body of Knowledge is focused less on the technical aspects of the subject matter and more on the management of systems and information.


HIMSS

AHRQ EHR Guide to Reducing Unintended Consequences

Thank you RAND Corporation and AHRQ. sv

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has recently published an online Guide to Reducing Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records. This resource is designed to help physicians and organizations anticipate, avoid, and address problems that can occur when implementing and using an EHR.

The Guide is based on published literature and guidelines, research by the authors and interviews with organizations that have implemented EHRs. It represents a compilation of best practices. However, the authors caution that “[T]his area of research is still in its infancy.”

The RAND Corporation prepared the Guide for AHRQ under contract HHSA290200600017I, Task Order #5. The authors of the Guide are Spencer S. Jones, Ross Koppel, M. Susan Ridgely, Ted E. Palen, Shinyi Wu, and Michael I. Harrison.

For more information on the AHRQ or the AHRQ Guide, please visit www.AHRQ.gov.

AHRQ: How to evaluate PCMH evidence of value

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Mathematica Policy Research are pleased to announce the release of a decision maker brief and white paper on building the evidence base for the medical home. In these new resources, we discuss how to improve the quality of the PCMH evidence and evaluations to ensure that the best policy decisions are made.

The decision maker brief offers a concise description of why and how to commission effective evaluations of medical home demonstrations. It captures some of the lessons we’ve learned while reviewing the current evidence on the PCHM including thoughts on what outcomes to assess, why to include control practices, and why not accounting for clustering can doom an evaluation.

The white paper provides practical information for researchers, implementers, evaluators, and those who fund them about how to determine the effect sizes a given study can expect to detect, identifies the number of patients and practices required to detect policy-relevant, achievable effects, and demonstrates how evaluators can select the outcomes and types of patients included in analyses to improve a study’s ability to detect true effects.

You can access the brief and white paper by clicking on the following links:


Power brief (Improving Evaluations of the Medical Home)

Power paper (Building the Evidence Base for the Medical Home: What Sample and Sample Size Do Studies Need?)


To learn more about what AHRQ has been up to, please visit: pcmh.ahrq.gov.

Surescripts Announces that Majority of Doctors in U.S. Now Use E-Prescribing

Good news, but we still have a way to go. sv


Surescripts

ARLINGTON, Va. - Nov. 9, 2011 - Surescripts today announced that over 52 percent of office-based doctors now use e-prescribing. The announcement was made over Twitter as part of a nationwide online event featuring healthcare leaders and providers from across the U.S. who gathered to celebrate the sixth annual Safe-Rx Awards, given each year to the top 10 states based on e-prescribing use. To view and participate in the post-event discussion, go to www.surescripts.com/safe-rx where visitors can also find adoption and use statistics for all states and share in the experiences of the individuals and organizations driving the use of e-prescribing across the nation.

"Congratulations to this year's Safe-Rx Award winners and to all the states for taking action to improve one of the most fundamental parts of our nation's health care system," said Harry Totonis, president and CEO of Surescripts. "In three short years, the nation has moved from less than 10 percent to more than 50 percent of physicians e-prescribing. This represents one of the most significant milestones achieved to date in the nationwide effort to adopt and achieve meaningful use of health information technology."

By replacing a pen and paper prescription pad with a more accurate, reliable and secure electronic prescription and by allowing prescribers to access critical information regarding their patients' medications and health plan coverage, e-prescribing saves lives, time and money, and improves the quality of care.

Surescripts reported the following statistics, tracking the growth of e-prescribing nationwide:

•52 percent (291,000) of all office-based physicians now actively use e-prescribing compared with fewer than 10 percent three years ago
•There are 357,000 active prescribers on the Surescripts network (including office-based physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants)
•94 percent of retail pharmacies nationwide are now connected and receiving e-prescriptions

Top 10 States With Highest Rates of E-Prescribing
1. Massachusetts
2. Delaware
3. Michigan
4. Connecticut
5. Rhode Island
6. Pennsylvania
7. South Dakota*
8. Iowa*
9. Oregon*
10. North Carolina*
*New to the top 10

Empire BlueCross BlueShield Announces Ground-Breaking Contract Agreement with NYU Langone Medical Center Based on Payment for Value

Empire Blue

Electronic Health Records Association to Collaborate with iHealth Alliance on Patient Safety Initiatives and EHRevent

This must be the week for EHR Safety Initiatives! SV

CHICAGO (November 7, 2011) – The Electronic Health Records (EHR) Association and the iHealth Alliance (iHA) announced today that they will work collaboratively to support efforts to develop practical, effective, and optimized reporting tools to collect information on medical incidents that may be related to the use of health information technology (IT).


“Obviously, this is an important effort for our Association to support ,” said Sarah Corley, MD, Chief Medical Officer at NextGen Healthcare and Chair of the Association’s Patient Safety Workgroup. “As developers of core technologies that can enhance patient safety and quality care delivery, we want to ensure that we’re part of any initiatives focused on collecting and appropriately analyzing suspected issues that compromise those objectives,” Corley went on to say.


The agreement establishes a basis for collaboration between the two organizations to support the iHA’s online reporting service, EHRevent.org, as well as to ensure that the data being collected by that service is relevant and timely, and to engage with other stakeholders to broaden participation and support of patient safety reporting efforts.


“We’re delighted to be working with the EHR Association on this initiative,” Nancy Dickey, MD, Chair of the iHA said. “The Association and its members bring expertise about these systems that is simply not found elsewhere. In understanding how EHRs are designed and implemented, we’ll be more successful in understanding the root causes of suspected incidents so that they can be prevented in the future,” Dr. Dickey concluded.

The EHR Association, led by its Patient Safety Workgroup under the leadership of Dr. Corley and Vice Chair Rich Landen, Senior Product Manager for Industry Relations at QuadraMed, will also continue to monitor and engage in other activities and organizations that may be working on health IT-related incident reporting.

About the HIMSS EHR Association

The HIMSS EHR Association is a trade association of 44 electronic health record (EHR) companies that join together to lead the health IT industry in the accelerated adoption of electronic health records in hospital and ambulatory care settings in the US. The Association provides a leadership forum for the EHR software provider community to speak with a unified voice relative to standards development, the EHR certification process, interoperability, performance and quality measures, and other EHR issues as they become subject to increasing government, insurance and provider-driven initiatives and requests. Membership is open to HIMSS Corporate Members companies that design, develop and market their own EHRs. The Association is a partner of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and operates as an independent organizational unit within HIMSS. For more information, visit http://www.himssEHRA.org.

About EHRevent

EHRevent is an online system that allows healthcare providers to report unanticipated events associated with the adoption and use of electronic health records. Founded in 2010 and governed by the not-for-profit iHealth Alliance, EHRevent is operated as a federally sanctioned Patient Safety Organization (“PSO”) which allows safe harbor protections for reporting providehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrs. Network operations for EHRevent are provided by PDR Network LLC. For more information, visit http://www.EHRevent.org.

About the iHealth Alliance

The iHealth Alliance is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to protect the interests of patients and providers as healthcare increasingly adopts electronic systems in patient care. iHealth Alliance board members include senior executives from U.S. medical societies, professional liability carriers, patient safety groups and liaison representatives from the FDA. For more information, visit https://www.ehrevent.org/Mission.html.

EHR Safe Harbor Bill Introduced in the House


Do you think that this bill will encourage greater use of EHRs and facilitate quicker identification of problems?
Let us know your opinion. SV


A bill has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Safeguarding Access For Every Medicare Patient Act, that would provide certain legal safe harbors to providers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. H.R. 3239 would create a mechanism for reporting EHR-related adverse events to promote patient safety, but would prevent such reports from being used as legal admissions of wrongdoing. The bill, intended to promote EHR use, would cover certain providers serving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, as well as participants in health information exchanges.

Bill H.R. 3239

LIPIX + NYCLIX Merge To form: Healthix

Congratulations on the merger! SV


Healthix™: A Tale of Two RHIOs


In a groundbreaking effort that provides clinicians with the means to significantly improve patient care throughout the region, the Long Island Patient Information eXchange (LIPIX) and the New York Clinical Information Exchange (NYCLIX) are proud to formally announce their plans to merge. The organizations, which were the two largest Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) in the state, will unite to create Healthix, Inc. We are now one of the largest active, self-sustaining RHIOs in the country! The combining of our technologies, operations and governance expands and strengthens our leading health information exchange (HIE) services.


The Manhattan-based organization will have over 31 acute care hospitals, 24 long-term care providers, 14 home care agencies, and many other ambulatory practices among its 104 connected facilities. Additionally, the combined patient directory will represent nearly 2% of the United States’ population (over 5 million patients) and continues to grow daily.


Healthix will embrace a mission shared by both LIPIX and NYCLIX, as well as the state of New York, to deliver industry-leading, secure exchange of patient health information in support of collaborative care models, outcomes-based medicine, emerging reimbursement structures, and patient-driven healthcare. Benjamin Stein, MD, the CEO of LIPIX, and Gil Kuperman, MD, the Executive Director of NYCLIX, each addressed the news in a joint statement: “We are excited and proud that our two organizations could come together in a spirit of collaboration that should change the landscape of health information technology throughout the region and the country.” Dr. Stein, who will remain CEO of the combined entity, added, “The benefits of the enlarged organization and network will accrue to all of our current and future members; these cover the range from nationally renowned health systems to small rural independent practices. The biggest winners here, however, are the patients of New York.”

LIPIX

Meaningful Use Best Practices to Secure EHR Bonus – Physicians Tell You How

Webinar • Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 • 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET

To Register

Learn best practices for meeting meaningful use from three physicians who have gone through the process, met the requirements and collected the bonus money.
The measures for meaningful use range from simple to complex, but even the simple ones have little-known tricks that successful practices can learn to achieve quickly. In this 90-minute webinar, you will get physicians’ perspectives on which measures are challenging, which are easy and what traps and pitfalls to be aware of.

After this must-attend webinar you will be able to:

Apply best practices

Properly document for the 15 core measures

Earn the $18,000 bonus with best practices for implementing meaningful use
Avoid common mistakes

Minimize staff time commitment

Bonus Material: You’ll get several downloadable tools as a bonus for attending this webinar, including a timeline of the roadmap to meaningful use and a compiled guide to meeting the 15 core meaningful use measures


To Register

Your Expert Presenters

Christopher Tashjian, MD, FAAFP Dr. Tashjian is extremely active in setting policy for the medical community. He serves on the Board of Directors of HealthPartners Inc. where he is Co-Chair of the Medical Board of Governors and Chair of the Health Transformation Committee. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors for the MMIC Group, the State of Wisconsin EMS Physician Advisory Committee, and Western Wisconsin Medical Associates.

William Vollmar, MD Dr. Vollmar practices family medicine/sports medicine for Diamantoni and Associates Family Practice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As one of the partners and a 20 year practice veteran, he was highly involved in selecting and developing their EHR program.

Salvatore Volpe, MD, FAAP, FACP, CHCQM Dr. Volpe has 20 years of primary care medical practice experience. His expertise on the topic of emerging medical communication technologies such as e-prescribing and electronic health records has made him a prominent speaker on the national medical lecture circuit.

New NYSHealth RFP: Promoting and Managing Growth at Primary Care Centers in Four Regions of New York State


Overview

Successful implementation of health reform will require expanded primary care capacity. With this Request for Proposals (RFP), NYSHealth seeks to promote fundamental, lasting changes in the community health centers (CHCs) that comprise a cornerstone of New York’s health care delivery system. NYSHealth recognizes that expanding health care access—whether establishing a new site, increasing the type of services available, or pursuing a merger—takes thoughtful planning and resources. Through this grant initiative, CHCs may conduct the data analyses needed for clinical capacity planning or preparation of a business plan; retain legal counsel; hire real estate advisors; enhance recruitment efforts; or build their internal management infrastructure.

Eligible applicants include Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), FQHC look-alikes, and comprehensive diagnostic and treatment centers in four regions of the State: Western New York, Central New York, the Finger Lakes region, and Long Island. Eligible organizations may apply for grants as well as supplemental program-related investments.

Download the full RFP.

Submissions

All applications must be submitted using NYSHealth’s online application system. Before submitting an application, please review the detailed application instructions. The online application can be accessed here. The deadline to submit an application is Tuesday, November 29, 2011, at 1 p.m. Late applications will not be accepted.

Programmatic questions regarding the application process should be e-mailed to growthmanagementRFP@nyshealth.org.

Questions regarding the online application system should be e-mailed to grantsmanagement@nyshealth.org.

National Provider Call on Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program

Tuesday, November 8; 1:30-3pm ET

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will host a national provider call on the Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program. A question and answer session will follow the presentation.
Target Audience: Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) providers, Medical coders, physician office staff, provider billing staff and vendors

Agenda:


Opening Remarks
Program Announcements
Overview of the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule to Address the 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program

§ Question & Answer Session

Registration Information – Please visit http://www.eventsvc.com/blhtechnologies/ to register for this informative session. Registration will close at 12:00 p.m. ET on November 8, 2011, or when available space has been filled. No exceptions will be made. Please register early.

Presentation: The presentation will be posted at least one day before the call at: http://www.cms.gov/PQRS/04_CMSSponsoredCalls.asp in the “Downloads” section on the CMS website.

Accessing the Communication Support Page to Request a 2012 Medicare Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program Payment Adjustment Significant Hardship Exemptions

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would like to advise eligible professionals who continue to experience a problem with accessing the Communication Support Page at https://www.qualitynet.org/portal/server.pt/community/communications_support_system/234 on the internet, when trying to submit a 2012 Medicare Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program Payment Adjustment Significant Hardship Exemption Request to please follow the steps listed below.

· In the internet browser, select Tools/Internet Options/Advanced.

· Scroll down toward the bottom and locate the “Use TLS 1.0” choice.

· Place a checkmark in the “Use TLS 1.0.”

· Click the ”OK” box.

· Attempt to access the site again.

If you still experience trouble accessing the site, the QualityNet help desk is available to answer inquiries regarding the Physician Quality Reporting System (Physician Quality Reporting, previously known as Physician Quality Reporting Initiative or PQRI) and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program.

QualityNet Help Desk – 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM CST

• General CMS Physician Quality Reporting System and eRx Incentive Program information
• Portal password issues
• Feedback report availability and access
• PQRI-IACS registration questions
• PQRI-IACS login issues

Phone: 1-866-288-8912

TTY: 1-877-715-6222

Email: Qnetsupport@sdps.org

Adirondack Regional Community Health Information Exchange (ARCHIE) Joins Forces With HIXNY

One operational platform created to serve the 17 county region of Northern New York and the Capital Region

ALBANY, NEW YORK - The Adirondack Regional Community Health Information Exchange (ARCHIE) will bring its operational resources to the Health Information Xchange of New York (HIXNY). ARCHIE was founded by Adirondack Medicine Incorporated, an independent physicians association (IPA) and Glens Falls Hospital. The staff members at ARCHIE, including Executive Director Dirk Rittenhouse, Director of Client Relations Heather O'Conner and Technical Project Manager Robin Smith have joined the HIXNY staff.

ARCHIE was noted to be a customer of Healthvision.


HIXNY is listed as an InterSystems Healthshare Customer

Medical Economics EHR Pilot Project is announced


http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=745400&pageID=1&sk=&date=

Participating vendors

ABEL Medical Software http://www.abelmedicalsoftware.com

Amazing Charts http://www.amazingcharts.com

Aprima http://www.aprima.com

Athenahealth http://www.athenahealth.com

CureMD http://www.curemd.com

GE Healthcare http://www.gehealthcare.com

McKesson Physician Practice Group http://www.mckesson.com/en_us/McKesson.com/For%2BHealthcare%2BProviders/Physician%2BPractices/Physician%2BPractices.html

Emr4md http://www.emr4md.com

NextGen Healthcare http://www.nextgen.com

Practice Fusion http://www.practicefusion.com

Sage Healthcare http://www.sagehealth.com

CMS:Webinar Tomorrow: EHR Incentives for Small Practices

What: Webinar- The CMS EHR Incentive Programs: Small-Practice Providers and clinical Quality Measures

When: Tuesday, Oct. 25 from 1:00 -- 2:30 p.m. EDT

Why: To help small-practice providers successfully report CQMs

How: Register online

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is holding a second webinar
on clinical quality measures (CQMs) and their importance in attesting to
meaningful use for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. CMS hopes to help
small-practice and rural providers become more knowledgeable in the topics
below:
An overview of the CQMs
How to report CQMs during attestation
Why CQMs are included in the EHR Incentive Programs
Answers to many FAQs on the CQMs and the EHR Incentive Programs

Although, small-practice providers are the intended audience of this webinar,
anyone will be able to join.

Handouts of the webinar presentation, a document with over 300
question-and-answers from the webinar held on August 30, and an informational
CQM fact sheet will be provided to participants before the webinar.
Additionally, registrants will be given an opportunity to submit questions
before the webinar that will be answered by CMS subject matter experts and
posted to the CMS EHR website a few weeks after the webinar has been completed.

Registration:
Individuals can register online at the link above. After successfully
registering, they will be sent a confirmation message with a link to the webinar
site. Space is limited, so interested participants should register now to secure
their place.

HHS ANNOUNCES NEW INCENTIVES FOR PROVIDERS TO WORK TOGETHER THROUGH ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANIZATIONS WHEN CARING FOR PEOPLE WITH MEDICARE

People with Medicare will be able to benefit from a new program designed to encourage primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals, and other health care providers to coordinate their care under a final regulation issued today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Created by the Affordable Care Act, these final rules on Accountable Care Organizations add to the menu of options for providers looking to better coordinate care for patients and will make it easier for providers to deliver high quality care and use health care dollars more wisely.



The initiatives announced today are just two of several efforts made possible by the Affordable Care Act to help bring better health, better care and lower costs not just to Medicare beneficiaries, but to all Americans. For example, the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative and Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative offer alternatives to coordinate and improve health care.



“Today we have taken another step to improve health care for people with Medicare,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “We are excited to give doctors, hospitals and other providers the flexibility and support they need to work together and focus on making sure patients get the care they need.”



“This model of delivering care may not be right for everyone, but it provides new incentives for doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers to work together in new ways,” said Secretary Sebelius.



The two initiatives launched today – the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the Advance Payment model – will help providers form Accountable Care Organizations and reflect the significant input provided by stakeholders as well as lessons learned by innovators in care coordination in the private sector.



•The Medicare Shared Savings Program will provide incentives for participating health care providers who agree to work together and become accountable for coordinating care for patients. Providers who band together through this model and who meet certain quality standards based upon, among other measures, patient outcomes and care coordination among the provider team, may share in savings they achieve for the Medicare program. The higher the quality of care providers deliver, the more shared savings the providers may keep.


•The Advance Payment model will provide additional support to physician-owned and rural providers participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program who also would benefit from additional start-up resources to build the necessary infrastructure, such as new staff or information technology systems. The advanced payments would be recovered from any future shared savings achieved by the Accountable Care Organization.


“As a physician I understand the complexities of caring for a patient who may have multiple providers,” said Donald M. Berwick, M.D., administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). “This opportunity to coordinate care among providers could greatly improve the quality of care Medicare beneficiaries receive.”

CMS Press Release

ACO Overview

AMA and Transformed Webinar: Preparing for health IT

If you missed the presentation, you can see it by following this link: READYTALK.

Meeting Description:

Think it is too difficult or costly to become a patient centered medical home or meaningful user of health IT? Get tips on how to succeed--from both a clinical and an operations standpoint--even as a small practice. This begins with engaging staff and promoting teamwork, leadership and communication throughout the implementation process. Learn how to employ fundamental strategies to help your practice manage change, as well as improve workflow efficiencies and handle typical challenges associated with successful health IT implementation.

Presenters

Ana Jensen, PhD, Practice Enhancement Facilitator, TransforMED

Salvatore Volpe, MD, FAAP, FACP, CHCQM

Date: Thu, Oct 20, 2011
Time: 02:00 PM EDT
Duration: 1 hour
Host(s): American Medical Association

Registration Link

Medical Home/Health Home Funding Opportunities

Here is an especially useful link for NY based practices and Community Health Care Centers. SV

CHCANYS

Visit our eclinicalworks blog for updates on 2011 eclinicalworks users conference

"Focus on Canadian eHealth Innovation"


The Consulate of Canada

In partnership with


Aria Health Systems; Barnabas Health; Geisinger Health System; Hahnemann University Hospital; Horizon Blue Cross; Public Health Management Corporation; Summit Health; Tenet Healthcare Corporation; Thomas Jefferson University Hospital; University of Pennsylvania Health System



Cordially invite you to



"Focus on Canadian eHealth Innovation"



Tuesday 4th, October 2011

The Hub at the Cira Center

30th and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19104



Matching Innovative Canadian Health Care & Solution Providers

with the Mid-Atlantics Leading Payers & Providers



An expert Advisory Board has chosen ten (10) innovative Canadian Health IT start-up companies to match up with ten (10) leading regional payers and providers through a one-day series of speed-dating and educational sessions. The eHealth Summit will:-

Match progressive health care providers and payers with innovative early-stage health care information technology companies to showcase and accelerate innovation
Accelerate meaningful use of health IT and health information exchange, better health care access, provision and outcomes and lower error rates and costs.


A limited number of tickets are available to the public to participate in this historic event.



8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Limited Capacity

Dress: Business Attire

Get more information

Register Now!

A Vision for Canada: Family Practice: The Patient’s Medical Home

Let's share best practices and improve the quality for both sides of the border. SV

On September 21, 2011, the College of Family Physicians of Canada officially released its new position paper called A Vision for Canada: Family Practice – The Patient’s Medical Home. The document provides an important vision of the future of frontline patient-centred care to meet the health care needs for all Canadians through specific goals and recommendations. Please see the full document, executive summary and news release.


A Vision for Canada: Family Practice – The Patient’s Medical Home
A Vision for Canada: Family Practice – The Patient’s Medical Home (abridged version)
News Release

CMS:Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative

Contact your health plans now!
Ask them to get involved.
Now is the time to change the payment paradigm from acute care to chronic/patient centered care. SV

The Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative is a new CMS-led, multi-payer initiative fostering collaboration between public and private health care payers to strengthen primary care for all Americans. Primary care is critical to promoting health, improving care, and reducing overall system costs, but it has been historically under-funded and under-valued in the United States. Without a significant enough investment across multiple payers, independent health plans-- covering only their own members and offering support only for their segment of the total practice population-- cannot provide enough resources to transform entire primary care practices and make expanded services available to all patients served by those practices. The CPC initiative offers a way to break through this historical impasse by inviting payers to join with Medicare in investing in primary care in 5-7 selected localities across the country.

The CPC initiative will test two models simultaneously: a service delivery model and a payment model. The service delivery model will test comprehensive primary care, which is characterized as having the following five functions:

Risk-stratified Care Management;
Access and Continuity;
Planned Care for Chronic Conditions and Preventative Care;
Patient and Caregiver Engagement;
Coordination of Care Across the Medical Neighborhood.

The payment model includes a monthly care management fee paid to the selected primary care practices on behalf of their fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries and, in years 2-4 of the initiative, the potential to share in any savings to the Medicare program. Practices will also receive compensation from other payers participating in the initiative, including private insurance companies and other health plans, which will allow them to integrate multi-payer funding streams to strengthen their capacity to implement practice-wide quality improvement.

The Innovation Center is now accepting letters of intent from public and private health care payers for the Comprehensive Primary Care initiative.

The first step is for public and private payers (including states) to indicate their interest to CMS, including the level and type of support for primary care practices being offered. Interested payers must submit a nonbinding letter of intent and a completed Geographic Service Area Worksheet by November 15, 2011 via email to CPCi@cms.hhs.gov. Applications from payers that do not submit a timely letter of intent will not be considered.

Final applications, to be completed only after the letter of intent has been submitted, must be received on or before January 17, 2012. Once CMS evaluates these proposals and selects the markets, a second solicitation will be issued for primary care practices in those markets.

New England Quality Care Alliance (NEQCA) Fall Forum


Now in its 13th year, this conference is designed specifically for NEQCA physicians, nurses & administrative staff. The forum offers seminars, exhibits, cocktail reception and dinner. RSVP for this event now. We look forward to seeing you there!

October 4, 2011
Sheraton Four Points, Norwood, MA

Register Now

CMS Lab Results Access Proposed Rule Issued

You have until November 14, 2011 to post your comments on the site.
Please post them here as well. SV


CLIA Program and HIPAA Privacy: Patients' Access to Test Reports

ONC Publishes Final Version of the Federal HIT Strategic Plan: 2011–2015

Here's some reading for the weekend. SV



The Federal Health IT Strategic Plan: 2011-2015 ("the Plan") is developed under the leadership of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and in close collaboration with other federal partners. The Plan reflects a strategy for coordinating with the public and private sector to realize Congress’ and the Administration's health information technology (health IT) agenda: improving the quality, efficiency, safety and patient-centeredness of health care.

The Plan reflects federal government priorities to help eligible providers become meaningful users of health IT; support implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA); protect individuals’ privacy; empower consumers with access to their health information, and support enhanced learning and innovation. The Plan, which was last published in 2008, has been updated to take into account the rapidly changing landscape of health IT and health IT policy. Since 2008, two major pieces of legislation have established an ambitious agenda and committed significant resources to health IT– the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the PPACA. The HITECH Act addresses security and privacy risks as health IT becomes a more ubiquitous part of health care, and PPACA expands both public health care and private health insurance initiatives.




Federal HIT Strategic Plan: 2011–2015

New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC Digital Health Conference:Speakers list

Here is the list of experts who will be presenting.
See you there.
Share your experiences and thoughts here, before, during and after:

What would you like discussed?
What you thought of the conference?
Suggestions for future conferences.

The conference will bring together hundreds of health information technology (HIT) stakeholders and decision-makers from across the region including providers of all types, the public sector, private industry, health plans, hospital administration, and others. The conference will showcase the latest technologies, share best practices, inspire collaboration, and generally support the advancement of healthcare innovation.
A separate awards ceremony and evening gala will be held the evening of December 1st.
Description of Track Scopes
Innovations in the Inpatient Setting: How real-world, practical accomplishments in care coordination, outcomes improvement, workflow efficiencies and administrative effectiveness are improving care in hospitals.
Advances in the Delivery of Primary Care: How new technologies are improving the safety, quality and cost-effectiveness of the delivery of primary care. Innovations will include patient engagement, improving practice workflow and integration of devices.
Chronic Care Management: Showcase new technologies such as telehealth, wireless health technologies, disease management programs, medication adherence programs and ways to better care for chronic patients including the needs of caregivers and the aging.
Health & Wellness: Showcase patient, employee and consumer programs that are using digital technologies to help individuals maintain active and healthy lives.

Speakers

KEYNOTE:
Todd Park

Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
T.R. Reid
Best-selling author and healthcare journalist, The Washington Post, PBS

TRACK SPEAKERS (as of 9-16-11):

Cecily Baker, RN
Health Ministry, Mamre Seventh Day Adventist Church
Jean Bauch RD, CDE, CPT
Director, Unity Diabetes Center & Unity Cardiopulmonary Rehab
Russell Bessette, MD
Executive Director, University at Buffalo Institute for Healthcare Informatics
Neil Calman, MD, ABFP, FAAFP
President & CEO, The Institute for Family Health
Eli Camhi, MSSW, LMSW
Executive Director, NewYork-Presbyterian System SelectHealth
Thomas Cannell, MA
Director of Community Health Initiatives, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Thomas Check
Sr. VP & CIO, Visiting Nurse Service of New York
Catherine Comeno, RN, BSN, CCDS, MBA
Clinical Services Director, Cardiology Associates
Anuj Desai
Director of Business Development, NYeC
Helen Figge, PharmD, MBA
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Senior Director, Career Services, HIMSS
Christina Galanis
Executive Director, Southern Tier HealthLink
George Hickman, FCHIME, FHIMSS, CPHIMS
Executive VP & CIO, Albany Medical Center
Chaim Indig
President & CEO, Phreesia
Lisa Kern, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Weill Cornell Medical College
Al Kinel, MBA
Program Director, Unity Health System Ð Community Diabetes Collaborative
Alice Loveys, MD, FAAP, FHIMSS
CMIO, IT Practice Consulting Corp.
Cyrus Massoumi
Co-Founder & CEO, ZocDoc
David Mendelson, MD
Chief of Clinical Informatics, Mount Sinai Medical Center
Amanda Parsons, MD
Deputy Commissioner for the Division of Health Care Access & Improvement,
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
KK Rajamani, MDhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Chief of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Unity Hospital
Jason Shapiro, MD, MA
Associate Professor, Mount Sinai Medical Center;
Chair Clinical Advisory and Evaluation Committees, NYCLIX
Richard Terry, DO, MBA, FAAFP, FACOFP
UHS, Family Medicine Residency
Victoria Tiase, RN, MS
Director, IT Strategy, New York-Presbyterian Hospital
David Whitlinger
Executive Director, NYeC

NYC REACH Expands EHR Partner List with Seven More Vendors

Even more choices for physicians practicing in NYC!
Contact NYCREACH for details and for assistance in achieving Meaningful Use and Patient Centered Medical Home recognition. SV

NYC REACH, the federally funded Regional Extension Center overseen by the Primary Care Information Project at the NYC Health Department, has added seven more EHR vendors to its partner list, and now supports a total of 12 EHRs. By expanding the list of partner companies, the extension center offers personalized Meaningful Use support to a growing number of EHR users in New York City.



EHR vendors went through an open, competitive process and met strict requirements beyond the national Meaningful Use certification standards. After closely examining the companies and products, NYC REACH officials selected seven EHR systems:

• Amazing Charts
• Criterions
• CureMD
• MedAZ

• Office Practicum
• OmniMD
• Pulse


“Doctors in New York City use a variety of EHRs, and we want to offer our subsidized training to as many practices as possible. Partnerships with new EHR vendors allow us to help more practices achieve Meaningful Use and improve care regardless of the system they use,” explains Acting Assistant Commissioner Dr. Jesse Singer. The NYC REACH Meaningful Use curriculum teaches physicians the qualifications for incentive payments, measures they must meet, and how to attest to Medicaid or Medicare for payment.



NYC REACH chose systems that not only meet the requirements for Meaningful Use, but also give physicians tools to practice preventive medicine, manage chronic conditions, and coordinate care. Doctors shopping for an EHR can receive free vendor selection assistance to help identify a product that is right for their practice.



NYC REACH offers three levels of support for doctors using an EHR or looking to adopt a system.



On-site Meaningful Use Support
On-site Meaningful Use education and classes for users of all partner vendors
• AmazingCharts
• Criterions
• CureMD
• eClinicalWorks
• Greenway
• MDLand
• MedAZ
• MedLink
• NextGen

• Office Practicum
• OmniMD
• Pulse



Implementation Support
Discounts on pre-negotiated EHR packages (including a free lab interface) and personalized implementation support for:
• eClinicalWorks
• Greenway
• MDLand


Vendor Neutral Meaningful Use Support
Physicians using any EHR can attend free Meaningful Use seminars and receive vendor-neutral education on the incentive programs.



Practices that do not have an EHR can use free NYC REACH resources to identify a system that meets their needs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More Information
Contact pcip@health.nyc.gov or call (347)-396-4888 with questions.
NYC REACH Partner EHRs
EHR Vendor Partner selection process

ONC HEALTH IT Website for consumers and professionals

The site provides links for patients, families, providers and professionals.
A great resource to share. SV


Healthit.gov

Patients and Families

Providers and Professionals

HIMSS New York State Student Informatics Conference

DATE: Friday, September 23, 2011
TIME: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
LOCATION: SUNY Downstate Medical Center

The New York State Chapter of HIMSS is proud to present the 2nd Annual New York State Student Informatics Conference on September 23, 2011 at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. The conference will be held in the Health Science Education Building- Alumni Auditorium.

This Conference seeks to continue to nurture and develop tomorrow’s HIT professionals locally in New York State.

A detailed event agenda is available here.

Click here to register

EHR Meaningful Use event! Queens County Medical Society


This one will be hosted by Queens County Medical Society with the NYC REACH extension center, at the Queens County Medical Society, 112-25 Queens Blvd, 4th Fl, Forest Hills, NY 11375.

It's for practices seeking to transition from paper to electronic medical records or to move to a web-based EMR. You'll hear an Introduction to Meaningful Use payments and find out about free support and training to help NYC physicians meet Meaningful Use requirements.

You'll also get an overview and demo of GE Centricity Advance, a web-based, Meaningful Use-certified EMR, practice management system and patient portal designed specifically for small practices.

General admission: $10 pre-paid, $20 at door. MSSNY member $10 pre-paid, $15 at door (registration fee is waived for NYC REACH members). To register, call 718-268-7300

CMS Final Rule on Changes to Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a final rule on changes to the electronic prescribing (eRx) incentive program. The rule states that providers may use either a qualified electronic prescribing system or certified EHR technology to generate electronic prescriptions, in an effort to avoid redundancy between the http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftwo programs, and to prevent providers from having to purchase two separate systems with overlapping capabilities. This change applies to the remainder of the calendar year 2011 reporting period, for the 2011 eRx incentive, and the 2013 eRx payment adjustment. Additionally, the rule provides new significant hardship exemption categories for the 2012 eRx payment adjustment. These categories apply to: providers who have registered for the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs; providers unable to electronically prescribe due to local, state, or Federal law or regulations; providers with limited prescribing activity; and providers with insufficient opportunities to report the eRx measure due to denominator limitations. Requests for significant hardship exemptions will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and the deadline for requesting such exemptions has been extended to November 1, 2011.

Medical Economics EHR Study and Registration Link

This is great opportunity for those without EHRs to not only receive assistance in implementing an EHR but also to participate in a study that will hopefully provide meaningful information on the whole process. Sign up now! SV

Medical Economics, with input from physicians, has designed a study which will benefit the entire medical community in discovering the best practices in implementing EHR systems. Participating physician practices will be given an EHR system for 2 years. In return, each practice will provide Medical Economics with feedback about their EHR experience — the real story from the physician’s point of view. From set-up and training to implementation and day–to–day utilization, we’ll be asking for your input.

Medical Economics has received commitments from several of the top named EHR companies in the country who have agreed to participate in this EHR study. They will give participating physician practices use of their EHR system— free for 2 years including installation, training, and support. There are a limited number of slots available so the sooner you submit your application the better your chances of being selected.

Registration Link

EHR Meaningful Use Event hosted by Queens County Medical Society and New York City's REACH extension center.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011, at 6:30 p.m.

This educational event is for practices seeking to transition from paper to electronic medical records or to move to a web-based EMR. You'll hear about Introduction to Meaningful Use payments, and about free support and training to help NYC physicians meet Meaningful Use requirements. You'll also get an overview and demo of GE Centricity Advance, a web-based, Meaningful Use-certified EMR, practice management system and patient portal designed specifically for small practices. General admission: $10 pre-paid, $20 at door. MSSNY member $10 pre-paid, $15 at door (registration fee is waived for NYC REACH members). To register, call 718-268-7300

National Provider Call: Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program – Rescheduled, Registration Open
Rescheduled for Mon Aug 29; 1:30-3pm ET

Originally scheduled for Tue Aug 16; 1:30-3pm ET



CMS will host a rescheduled National Provider Call on the Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program on Mon Aug 29; this educational call was originally scheduled for Tue Aug 16.



Agenda:

Opening Remarks
Announcements
Overview of the 2010 Incentive Payments and Feedback Reports for Physician Quality Reporting System
Overview of the 2010 Incentive Payments and Feedback Reports for Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program
Question & answer session


Target Audience: Medical coders, physician office staff, provider billing staff, health records staff, vendors, and all Medicare FFS providers.



Presentation Materials: Are available for download at http://www.CMS.gov/PQRS/downloads/PQRSNPCAug16-2011.zip.



Registration Information: In order to receive the call-in information, you must register for the call. Registration will close at 1:30pm on Fri Aug 26 or when available space has been filled; no exceptions will be made, so please register early. For more details, including instructions on registering for the call, please visit http://www.eventsvc.com/palmettogba/082911.

NYC DOH PCIP/NYC REACH PCMH/Meaningful Use Webinars


Together we will explore:
Healthcare challenges facing physicians
Benefits of EHR
The path to EHR EHR/EMR
Implementation Thoughts & Considerations.
Patient Centered Medical Home
Federal Incentives under ARRA
Meaningful use

This is now a weekly series of events.


Topic: Dr. Sal Volpe's Webinar

Time: 10:00 am, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)


Topic: Dr. Sal Volpe's Webinar
Date: Friday, August 26, 2011
Time: 10:00 am, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)
Meeting Number: 796 489 599
Meeting Password:

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To start or join the online meeting
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Electronic Health Record System For Mental Health Care: Request for Information (RFI)



We invite your response to this Request for Information (RFI), issued by The Fund for Public Health in New York, Inc. (FPHNY), on behalf of the Division of Mental Hygiene (DMH) of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and the New York City Regional Electronic Adoption Center for Health (NYC REACH).



These agencies have formed JOIN MH (Joint Opportunities for Integrated Networks in Mental Health), a program dedicated to assisting mental health providers in successfully adopting interoperable electronic health record systems and effectively using these systems to improve the quality and value of the care and services they offer.



As advocates for NYC mental health providers, JOIN MH desires to partner with the most qualified EHR vendors and work with vendors and providers to achieve the widest possible dissemination of high quality, interoperable EHRs. EHR systems are sought that are sufficiently robust to meet the clinical workflow needs of a broad range of mental health providers, to enable eligible providers to achieve Meaningful Use standards, and to facilitate the coordination of care between primary care and mental health providers through health information exchange.



This RFI identifies minimum requirements for the opportunity to be selected as a JOIN MH Partner Vendor and additional requirements or information that will be considered in the application process.



We encourage EHR vendors to respond to this RFI, as it will be important for us to offer a range of options to meet the needs of our provider partners. Above all, we seek to work in partnership with vendors who understand the needs of behavioral health providers and have the flexibility to grow and adapt as health IT matures.



To read the RFI instructions and retrieve the Response Spreadsheet for response entry, please click on the following link:



http://www.fphny.org/whatsnew/rfps



We look forward to receiving your Letter of Intent and Minimum Requirements Response (due August 29, at Noon - New York time). Full RFI responses are due on September 23, 2011 at 5 pm. Questions regarding this RFI and the related process should be addressed to JOINMH@health.nyc.gov.

Meaningful Use in NYC, August 10th EHR Open House

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is hosting a free Open House to educate physicians about electronic health records. Learn how NYC REACH can help doctors adopt electronic health records, receive discounted EHR programs, and meet the requirements for Meaningful Use incentives. As the second NYC REACH doctor to successfully attest for Medicare Meaningful Use, Dr. Sal Volpe will share his experience on EHR adoption and implementation. He will be receiving his first payment of $18,000.

You will hear about Meaningful Use and the EHR adoption process, ask Dr. Volpe questions on his experience, and view demos from our three preferred EHR vendors- eClinicalWorks, MDLand, and Greenway.

Date: Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Time: 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Location: 42-09 28th Street, 12th Floor, Room 12-22, Long Island City (Queens), New York

To attend, please register:

NYC REACH is a part of the Primary Care Information Project at the New York City Department of Health. To learn more, please go to www.nycreach.org.




Primary Care Information Project
42-09 28th Street, 12th Floor, CN-52
Long Island City (Queens), New York 11101
USA

Medline Plus is now available to in a mobile format

Be sure to add this bookmark to your smartphones and tablets. SV

Medline Plus Mobile

MedlinePlus Connect:free content for EHRs and Patient Portals

This is great service and a fine example of our tax dollars at work.
We have used a link to Medline on our website for almost a decade. SV

Linking Patient Portals and EHRs to Consumer Health Information

MedlinePlus Connect is a free service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This service allows health organizations and health IT providers to link patient portals and electronic health record (EHR) systems to MedlinePlus, an authoritative up-to-date health information resource for patients, families, and health care providers.
How it Works

MedlinePlus Connect accepts requests for information on diagnoses (problem codes), medications, and lab tests, and returns related MedlinePlus information. It is available as a Web application or a Web service.

Upon receiving a problem code request, MedlinePlus Connect returns relevant MedlinePlus health topics and other related information. MedlinePlus has hundreds of health topic pages that bring together information from NIH, other U.S. government agencies, and reputable health information providers. Health topic pages cover a wide range of conditions and wellness issues, and include key resources to inform patients about their health: overviews, information on symptoms and treatments, recent health news, clinical trials, and much more. You can browse the list of all health topics.

For problem code requests, MedlinePlus Connect supports:

ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition, Clinical Modification)
SNOMED CT® CORE Problem List Subset (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine, Clinical Terms, Clinical Observations Recording and Encoding Problem List Subset)

MedlinePlus Connect will support ICD-10-CM when it becomes the U.S. standard.

MedlinePlus Connect can also link your EHR system to drug information written especially for patients. When an EHR system sends MedlinePlus Connect a request that includes a medication code, the service will return link(s) to the most appropriate drug information. MedlinePlus drug information is the AHFS­ Consumer Medication Information and is licensed for use on MedlinePlus from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, ASHP, Inc.

For medication requests, MedlinePlus Connect supports:

RXCUI (RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier)
NDC (National Drug Code)

MedlinePlus Connect also returns information in response to laboratory test codes. This information is from the A.D.A.M. encyclopedia, which MedlinePlus licenses.

For lab test requests, MedlinePlus Connect supports:

LOINC® (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes)

MedlinePlus Connect currently supports requests for information on diagnoses and lab tests in English or Spanish, and requests for drug information in English only. MedlinePlus Connect is intended for use within the United States health care system and cannot support coding systems not used in the United States.
Implementing MedlinePlus Connect

To use MedlinePlus Connect, you need to work with the technical representative or staff member who can use the MedlinePlus Connect Web application or Web service as described in the technical documentation. They will use the coding information already in your system (e.g., ICD-9-CM, NDC, etc.) to automatically send requests to MedlinePlus Connect in a standard format and use the reply to provide relevant patient information from MedlinePlus.

MedlinePlus Connect supports the HL7 Context-Aware Knowledge Retrieval (Infobutton) standard.
The level of effort varies depending on the flexibility and customizability of your system.
Implementing MedlinePlus Connect is a one-time effort. Once you make this change in your system, MedlinePlus Connect will update and maintain the links between the codes and the consumer health information.
See examples of health care organizations and electronic health records systems using MedlinePlus Connect.

MedlinePlus Connect Quick Facts

MedlinePlus Connect is free and doesn't require registration.
MedlinePlus Connect may help you achieve one of the 10 menu criteria for Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology.
You don't have to use MedlinePlus Connect exclusively to link to patient education information. Many EHR systems can be configured to link to more than one source of consumer health information.
Implementing MedlinePlus Connect will make a global change; you don't need to create individual links.
MedlinePlus Connect isn't a replacement for MedlinePlus. It is a value-added service to bring MedlinePlus content to electronic health record systems.
Visit the MedlinePlus Connect brochure.

NYCREACH August 10th EHR Open House – Meaningful Use in NYC

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is hosting a free Open House to educate physicians about electronic health records. Learn how NYC REACH can help doctors adopt electronic health records, receive discounted EHR programs, and meet the requirements for Meaningful Use incentives. As the second NYC REACH doctor to successfully attest for Medicare Meaningful Use, Dr. Sal Volpe will share his experience on EHR adoption and implementation. He will be receiving his first payment of $18,000.

You will hear about Meaningful Use and the EHR adoption process, ask Dr. Volpe questions on his experience, and view demos from our three preferred EHR vendors- eClinicalWorks, MDLand, and Greenway.

Date: Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Time: 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Location: 42-09 28th Street, 12th Floor, Room 12-22, Long Island City (Queens), New York

To attend, please register: http://www.nycreachopenhouse.eventbrite.com

NYC REACH is a part of the Primary Care Information Project at the New York Chttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifity Department of Health. To learn more, please go to www.nycreach.org or fill out an interest form here.


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Primary Care Information Project
42-09 28th Street, 12th Floor, CN-52
Long Island City (Queens), New York 11101
USA

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NYeC Regional Extension Center Rapidly Approaching Capacity


If you are NYS primary care physician practicing outside the five boroughs be sure to contact NYeC before their subsidized grants are exhausted. SV

In just a short period of time, the NYeC Regional Extension Center (REC) has helped 2857 primary care providers progress toward Meaningful Use—more than half the total number it is subsidized to assist through its federal grant.

As the federally designated REC for New York State, NYeC has a grant to provide subsidized services to 5107 primary care providers. As of today, there are only 2250 slots left to receive federal assistance, and providers continue to sign up at a rapid pace—as many as 200 per week.

For providers who are already live on an EHR, REC service is free if they sign up before August 31, 2011. For those practices still using paper records, the price is $750 per provider, with the remainder covered by the federal subsidy. After the remaining subsidized spots are filled, NYeC’s EHR-adoption programs and service price return to the regular price of $4000 - $5750 per provider.

The REC has done an extraordinary job so far of assisting providers, with 1500 of the roughly 2800 being live on EHRs, and over 60 individuals having attested to Meaningful Use. To put that into context: approximately 300 providers have received EHR Incentive checks from Medicaid throughout the entire country, which demonstrates the high rate of success at NYeC and in New York State.

Since federally subsidized spots are going so fast, NYeC encourages providers to contact them as soon as possible. The REC will assist any primary care provider, regardless of their progress in the transition to EHRs.

For more information, email recinfo@nyehealth.org.

NYC DOH PCIP/NYC REACH PCMH/Meaningful Use Webinars

July 2011

Together we will explore:
Healthcare challenges facing physicians
Benefits of EHR
The path to EHR EHR/EMR
Implementation Thoughts & Considerations.
Patient Centered Medical Home
Federal Incentives under ARRA
Meaningful use

This is now a weekly series of events.


Topic: Dr. Sal Volpe's Webinar

Time: 10:00 am, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)

Friday, July 22, 2011

Friday, July 29, 2011

ACO Insights Series Webinars

September 27, 2011 1:30 to 3 p.m. Eastern

"Engaging the Community: Involving Patients and their Providers in ACOs"

Learning Objectives and Event Details


Speakers:
Mary Young, senior vice president, network management, Monarch HealthCare

Kirsten Sloan, vice president, National Partnership for Women & Families


REGISTER for the Sept. 27, 2011 Webinar!


October 25, 2011 1:30 to 3 p.m. Eastern

"Federal Standards for ACOs: A Legal and Governance Primer"

Learning Objectives and Event Details



Speakers:

David Manko, partner, Rivken Radler Health Services Practice Group

George Choriatis, partner, Rivken Radler Health Services Practice Group

REGISTER for the Oct. 25, 2011 Webinar!


Both webinars available free of charge.

THINC is dedicated to improving the quality, safety and efficiency of health care for the benefit of the people of the Hudson Valley region of New York. The primary purpose of THINC is to advance the use of health IT through the sponsorship of a secure health information exchange network, the adoption and use of interoperable EHRs and the implementation of population health improvement activities, including public health surveillance and reporting, pay for performance, patient centered medical home practice transformation, care coordination activities, public reporting and other quality improvement initiatives. For more information, go to www.THINC.org. THINC is part of the Hudson Valley Initiative, an effort to revolutionize health care delivery through a shared vision to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health care in the community. To learn more, go to http://www.hudsonvalleyinitiative.com.

NYS Health Home SPA for Individuals with Chronic Conditions

NYS has issued additional information regarding support for Health Homes/Patient Centered Medical Homes for the Medicaid population. SV



NYS Medicaid

NYC DOH PCIP/NYC REACH PCMH/Meaningful Use Webinars

July 15 2011, 10 AM-11 AM, EST


Together we will explore:
Healthcare challenges facing physicians
Benefits of EHR
The path to EHR EHR/EMR
Implementation Thoughts & Considerations.
Patient Centered Medical Home
Federal Incentives under ARRA
Meaningful use
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
This is now a weekly series of events.


Topic: Dr. Sal Volpe's Webinar
Date: Friday, July 15, 2011
Time: 10:00 am, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)
Meeting Number: 790 156 700


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To join the online meeting
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Medscape CME for CMS EHR Incentive Programs

You can now earn CME while learning about the CMS EHR Incentive Programs. sv

Medscape

SPINNphr:White label Microsoft Healthvault PHR?

Here's an interesting product using the Healthvault platform.
Please tell us of your organization's experience with this product. sv

SPINN is a private-labeled PHR system that allows healthcare providers, patient advocacy groups and other organizations to quickly, easily and cost effectively offer their own branded Personal Health Record solution.

Not just a re-skinning of a one-size-fits-all system, SPINN allows organizations to configure the ideal PHR solution, allowing them to pick and choose the functions and features that make the most sense from among a growing number of SPIhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifNN and HealthVault partners.

Designed with an import / export translation layer that can support HL Seven, CCR and CCD formats, SPINN phr can be integrated to almost any electronic medical record system. While every situation is different, SPINN is designed to make the initial integration and on-going support and maintenance as easy as possible.

And because SPINN stores personal health information in HealthVault, members will have secure access to information provided by all other healthcare providers in the growing HealthVault ecosystem.

SPINNphr

New York State’s Proposed All-Payer Database: APD

The New York State Department of Health (DOH) is developing an all-payer database (APD) for New York State. The database will serve as a repository of claims data drawn from all major public and private payers which may also be combined with clinical and public health data sources. APDs support state-level health care reform efforts by providing powerful tools to evaluate critical issues such as regional variations in utilization, quality, and cost. In addition, APDs are used to examine the impact of reimbursement methodologies, public health interventions, and health care resources on utilization, quality, outcomes, and/or costs. When this data is publicly available, consumers will have the tools they need to compare price and quality for important health care decisions. APDs may be a valuable tool in assessing the impact of various delivery system reforms and payment innovations encouraged by federal health care reform.

To date, nine states have created APDs: Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Vermont, and Utah. Three additional states are in the process of implementation, and fourteen states have either taken initial steps toward creating an APD, or established a voluntary system.

Recently, New York enacted legislation for the creation of an APD. New York’s APD legislation builds on the existing Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS), which collects clinical and demographic data concerning hospital discharges, emergency department visits, and certain ambulatory surgery and clinic visits. The new APD system may be developed within SPARCS or as a separate entity. It will include claims data related to inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, laboratory, pharmacy, and other health care services. The legislation authorizes New York to participate in a similar system operated by a regional or national entity or another jurisdiction. The bill is widely supported by members in both houses of the legislature and has been included in the 2011-2012 New York State Budget.

Currently, the project is in the initial planning phase. On Tuesday, June 7, 2011, the New York State Health Foundation, in collaboration with Commissioner Nirav Shah and the New York State Department of Health, hosted a working discussion regarding the establishment of the database. Various healthcare stakeholders throughout the state participated and provided valuable ideas about how to proceed. The Office for Health IT Transformation prepared an inventory of the existing data resources in New York that utilize payer data which was discussed at the meeting as well. These databases include SPARCS, FAIR Health, New York Quality Alliance (NYQA), and a state funded project in the Adirondacks.

The group began to discuss the governance, policies, and technical requirements of the system. Based on their input, DOH will reach out to a larger group of stakeholders to create a roadmap for implementation and potential funding sources and requirements, as well as a framework for an overall architecture model. In addition, a cross-cutting group within DOH will begin work on the regulations described in the legislation which will address the collection and use of the data as well as provisions to protect patient privacy.

SAVE THE DATE: 2011 NYeC Digital Health Conference

The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) will host its first annual Digital Health Conference on December 1st and 2nd in New York City at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers. This conference will bring together health information technology (HIT) stakeholders from the public and private sectors—including providers, hospital administrators, insurers, IT vendors, as well as other members of private industry and government representatives.

The two-day educational conference will include numerous panel discussions with experts in several areas: chronic care management, advances in the delivery of primary care, innovations in inpatient settings and health and wellness. An exhibit area will also showcase the latest technologies and tools that are available to help improve the quality of healthcare and reduce costs. A separate evening gala and awards ceremony will recognize key individuals who have made special contributions to HIT.

To participate in this conference as an attendee, speaker, exhibitor or sponsor please visit www.digitalhealthconference.com

or contact Tom Tagariello, NYeC Events Manager, TTagariello@NYeHealth.org, for more information.

CMS Attestation Website : EHRincentives

As we approach the Fourth of July Weekend, you may want to set aside some time during the festivities to "Attest". Have a Happy and Safe Holiday. sv


Here are the instructions for registering on the CMS website:
1. Go to https://ehrincentives.cms.gov/hitech/login.action

2. Click continue to get to the log-in page and enter your user ID and password

• Medicaid professionals will only need their NPI number
• Medicare professionals and Eligible hospitals will need their (1) NPI number and (2) PECOS or NPPES user ID and password (If you do not have an active PECOS or NPPES username and password, please request one here: https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/IASecurityCheck.do )

3. Click the registration tab on the new page and select “register” under “Registration Selection”

4. Click “Start Registration” at the bottom of the page and proceed to complete the registration pages

5. Once registered, you will see a successful submission screen
Please be sure to select the incentive program that you wish to participate in when registering. You may only select one. Before 2015, you may switch programs only once after your first payment has started.

Flexiant providing Cloud Platform for e-Health Pilot in England

Definitely a pilot worth following, sv

Scottish cloud software and services provider Flexiant is providing a cloud platform for a research project that promises NHS patients complete control over their medical records and the power to decide who has access to their data.The E-Health Cloud, using Flexiant’s pioneering cloud platform Extility, will be the first large scale deployment of the cloud in e-health.

A pilot underway at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, is using cloud computing to make communication between patient, consultant and GP faster and more efficient. Researchers at Chelsea and Westminster are working with Edinburgh Napier University and Flexiant to show how the current paper-based system could be replaced with a next-generation e-health platform. After 18 months in development, with the cloud integration work provided by Flexiant, the E-Health Cloud is now ready to be tested and a demonstrator will go live on Flexiant’s Extility platform next month. The demonstrator will be the first large scale deployment of the cloud in e-health.

NYC DOH PCIP/NYC REACH PCMH/Meaningful Use Webinars

June 24 2011, 10 AM-11 AM, EST


Together we will explore:
Healthcare challenges facing physicians
Benefits of EHR
The path to EHR EHR/EMR
Implementation Thoughts & Considerations.
Patient Centered Medical Home
Federal Incentives under ARRA
Meaningful use

This is now a weekly series of events.

Registration is required. Upon registration, you will receive an email with code need to join.

Dial In Code: 888-622-5357
Participant Code: 586020

Meeting information
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Topic: Dr. Sal Volpe's Webinar
Date: Friday, June 24, 2011
Time: 10:00 am, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)


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To start or join the online meeting
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Go to https://healthnycgov.webex.com/healthnycgov/j.php?ED=154822162&UID=482061732&PW=NYWI2YWI5OTgx&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program National Provider Teleconference Presentation-June 21, 2011 is now available



The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is pleased to announce that presentation that will be used during the June 21st, 2011 Physician Quality Reporting System & Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program national provider teleconference is now available on the CMS website.


This presentation will provide an overview of the proposed rule CMS released on May 26th, 2011 which addresses the proposed changes to the Medicare Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program.



To access the presentation, go to http://www.cms.gov/PQRS, and select the CMS Sponsored Calls tab on the left side of the page. Next, scroll down to the section under the heading Downloads and select - June 21, 2011 National Provider Call Materials.

Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs: What Hospitals Need to Know


On July 13, the New York State Department of Health, in conjunction with GNYHA, the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS), NYSTEC, the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), and NYC REACH, New York City’s Regional Extension Center, will be hosting an informational session, “Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs: What Hospitals Need to Know.” The event will feature presenters from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Topics to be covered include registration, attestation, meaningful use, and EHR certification; a question-and-answer session will follow the presentations.

The details of the briefing are as follows:

DATE:
Wednesday, July 13, 2011

TIME:
9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.

LOCATION:http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
GNYHA Conference Center

555 West 57th Street, 15th Floor

REGISTRATION:
https://www.regonline.com/nyincentiveprogramevent


Participants can also register to attend this event via Webcast. Please see the attached invitation for more details and the program agenda. If you have any questions about this event, please contact Zeynep Sumer (zsumer@gnyha.org) or Sara Kaplan-Levenson (skaplan-levenson@gnyha.org).

Reminder: NYC DOH PCIP EHR Open House, This Wednesday!


REMINDER! The NYC Health Department’s Primary Care Information Project is hosting a free Open House to educate physicians about electronic health records. Learn about how we can help you adopt an electronic health record and earn federal Meaningful Use incentive payments. The Primary Care Information Project has funding to offer you discounted software and subsidized training services.

Join us Wednesday evening for a Meaningful Use overview and EHR software demos from our three preferred vendors: eClinicalWorks, Greenway, and MDLand.

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 15, 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Location: 42-09 28th Street (Room 12-22, 12th floor) in Long Island City

If you or any colleagues would like to attend, simply RSVP to http://nycreachopenhouse.eventbrite.com/.

We look forward to seeing you!

Primary Care Information Project
42-09 28th Street, 12th Floor, CN-52
Long Island City, NY 11101
pcip@health.nyc.gov

Avoid eRx penalties: CMS announces new exemption categories

On May 26 the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) responded to AMA concerns about the e-prescribing penalty program and issued a proposed rule that makes significant changes to it by adding more exemption categories. These changes will assure that physicians are not unfairly penalized for failing to meet the requirements under the 2012 e-prescribing penalty program.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has had many concerns with the e-prescribing penalty from CMS. AMA President Cecil Wilson, MD, has discussed these concerns on several occasions with Donald Berwick, MD, the CMS administrator. AMA staff also has continually stressed to senior CMS officials that there was an urgent need to modify the policy.

Physicians are still required to e-prescribe using a qualifying e-prescribing system and report the G8553 code on at least 10 Medicare Part B claims from Jan. 1, 2011, through June 30, 2011, to avoid the 2012 e-prescribing penalty.

However, to avoid the 2012 e-prescribing penalty, physicians now will have an opportunity to attest through an on-line web portal that they are eligible for one of the following penalty exemptions:

Physician's practice is located in a rural area without high speed internet access


Physician's practice is located in an area without sufficient available pharmacies for electronic prescribing


Physician is registered to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Program and has adopted certified EHR technology


Physician is unable to electronically prescribe due to local, State, or Federal law or Regulation (e.g., prescribes controlled substances)


Physician infrequently prescribes (e.g., prescribe fewer than 10 prescriptions between January 1, 2011 –June 30, 2011)


There are insufficient opportunities to report the e-prescribing measure due to program limitations (e.g., surgeons)

Physicians will have to apply for an exemption from the 2012 e-prescribing penalty via the web-portal tool by Oct. 1.


Read more on the CMS website.

View the proposed rule.

See a statement from the AMA on the e-prescribing policy modifications.

The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register on June 1, 2011. The comment period will close on July 25, 2011.

The AMA will review the proposed rule in more detail once it is formally published.