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