United Hospital Fund: Medicaid in New York: Strengthening Care Management and Coverage

Medicaid in New York: Strengthening Care Management and Coverage

Wednesday, July 10, 2013
8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

CUNY Graduate and University Center
365 5th Avenue (at 34^thStreet), New York, NY

This United Hospital Fund conference will examine major strategic choices and operational challenges presented by recent and ongoing health care reforms, as well as how these choices and challenges are affected by resource constraints, tight deadlines, and federal oversight. 

In addition to the previously announced speakers—Jason Helgerson, Judith Arnold, and Jim Tallon—the panels “Improving Care Management through Medicaid Health Homes” and “Achieving Seamless Coverage: Work in Progress & Changes Ahead” have been formed.

View the complete agenda and register.

HHS: Doctors and hospitals’ use of health IT more than doubles since 2012

It looks like the combination of financial incentives and support systems (RECs) has succeeded.
There is also a turnover in EHRs as practices become more savvy as to what is needed to run an efficient practice that can also improve the quality the care delivered.

MCOs are announcing more PCMH programs with enhanced reimbursement.
Will it be enough to sustain the system?

Let us know your opinion. SV


HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced that more than half of all doctors and other eligible providers have received Medicare or Medicaid incentive payments for adopting or meaningfully using electronic health records (EHRs).



HHS has met and exceeded its goal for 50 percent of doctor offices and 80 percent of eligible hospitals to have EHRs by the end of 2013.

Since the Obama administration started encouraging providers to adopt EHRs, usage has increased dramatically. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey in 2012, the percent of physicians using an advanced EHR system was just 17 percent in 2008. Today, more than 50 percent of eligible professionals (mostly physicians) have demonstrated meaningful use and received an incentive payment. For hospitals, just nine percent had adopted EHRs in 2008, but today, more than 80 percent have demonstrated meaningful use of EHRs.


“We have reached a tipping point in adoption of electronic health records,” said Secretary Sebelius. “More than half of eligible professionals and 80 percent of eligible hospitals have adopted these systems, which are critical to modernizing our health care system. Health IT helps providers better coordinate care, which can improve patients’ health and save money at the same time.”



        HHS   CMS HEALTHIT

Aetna Launches Patient-Centered Medical Home Program in New York!

Thanks Aetna!
Another great step towards encouraging and supporting PCMH in NY.
Looking forward to the details. SV

Aetna announced today the launch of its Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) program in New York. The program recognizes primary care physicians (PCPs) who more actively coordinate and manage their patients' care across the health care system. By strengthening the role of PCPs, the PCMH program aims to improve patient health outcomes.
"Patient-centered care is something Aetna has always advocated. Our PCMH program rewards PCPs who focus on the patient's entire health needs, not just a single condition," said Elizabeth Curran, head of National Network Strategy and Program Development for Aetna. "As a result, members may experience better health, fewer hospitalizations, improvements in transitions of care, and greater engagement. The PCMH program is one more way we are moving from a system that rewards the quantity of procedures to a system that rewards quality outcomes."
Primary care providers who participate in Aetna's networks, who have been recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a PCMH, and who are not participating in other quality incentive programs with Aetna were considered for the PCMH program in New York. Recognized providers will receive a quarterly Coordination of Care payment for each commercial (non-Medicare) Aetna member in their care. The NCQA-recognized PCMH practices are recognized for providing a number of services, including:

• Improved access to care, such as the ability to reach health professionals outside normal business hours;
• Proactive and planned preventive care (screenings, physicals, labs);
• Improved access through e-mail, web or telephone visits; and
• Access to nurses and other health care professionals, allowing more focused physician visits.

Aetna serves 880,000 commercial members in New York. More than 200 physician practices are currently part of the growing program.

Aetna

PCPCC

Transforming Primary Care Practice. Annals of Family Medicine May/June 2013

Courtesy of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative.
Recommended reading. SV

You will find that this month's Annals of Family Medicine is dedicated to "Transforming Primary Care Practice." The series of articles provides an in-depth analysis of'what it takes to fulfill the goals of the patient-centered medical home and primary care excellence, including a rare look at costs of transformation. They also serve as a reminder that as we continue on this road to health system transformation, the journey will incredibly challenging and resource intensive, but deeply rewarding when given the opportunity to look back and reflect on stories of success.

NYeC Summit: Beyond EHRs: Information Exchange and Your Practice – New York City June 6th

This is one of series of Summits held throughout the state. 

See you there. SV

Thursday, June 6, 2013

New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, NY

The 2013 New York City Summit will bring together some of the best resources in the region to help answer questions about how EHRs and your Regional Health Information Exchange (the RHIO) can benefit your organization.

Learn About Health Information Exchange

Leadership and representatives from the RHIO, the New York State Department of Health, and current members will answer real questions about the capabilities of the health information exchange services offered by the RHIO. Topics will include the following:

• Statewide patient record lookup
• Direct communication between providers
• Federal/local initiatives (such as Meaningful Use)
• Health Homes

…and others, along with innovations taking place in your neck of the woods, and how you can tap into all of these to best care for your patients.
Learn from those with first-hand experience about the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY), and what resources are available locally to help you and your patients benefit from it.


Who Should Attend

Open to all those interested, including healthcare providers, hospital staff, payers, practice administration, and anyone else curious about health information exchange in New York. There is no fee to attend.
Ask questions. Get answers. Get connected.

Venue Information

8:00 am – 1:00 pm
New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge
333 Adams Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-246-7000
Map of location

Internet Week New York 2013

School winding down. Weather warming up. Check this week long festival. SV

IWNY, taking place this year from May 20-27 2013, was launched in 2008 in cooperation with the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment. It is a week-long festival celebrating Internet business and culture and will attract more than 45,000 Internet professionals, working across all sectors, attending 250+ events produced by IWNY and 150+ citywide event partners. (This year citywide is extending a little further—out to the Hamptons for events there over Memorial Day weekend.) The central hub of the festival is the IWNY HQ at the Metropolitan Pavilion (125 W 18th Street - map). The HQ will bring together 10,000 attendees for four days of celebrity keynotes and lively panel discussions on two live-streamed stages, workshops and tutorials in the official IWNY classroom, dozens of interactive displays, a screening room (new for this year!), media center, a café and a lounge.

Internet Week

Planned content tracks in the HQ will be dedicated to fashion & beauty in tech, music tech, sports & fitness in tech, food tech, and women in tech. We will also continue our mainstay focus on advertising, media, and marketing. There will be deeper dive, co-located conferences on areas such as healthcare & technology. We will also be incubating new topic areas such as how digital is impacting law, real estate, and finance. Beyond that, the overarching themes of IWNY 2013 will be digital education, bridging the digital divide, and empowering small businesses to get online.

WellPoint's primary care program gets warm reception from docs

As a member of the pilot project, I can say that Wellpoint is very interested in improving care through PCMH. SV


Ever since WellPoint launched its unique and innovative patient-centered primary care program in January, the nation's second largest insurer says doctors already are providing positive feedback.
WellPoint first announced the new reimbursement initiative last year, promising to pay more money to primary care doctors who meet certain quality goals when they keep patients healthier and lower costs. The program aims to increase doctors' revenue opportunities, enhance information sharing and provide care management support.


Read more: WellPoint's primary care program gets warm reception from docs - FierceHealthPayer http://www.fiercehealthpayer.com/story/wellpoints-primary-care-program-gets-warm-reception-docs/2013-05-17#ixzz2Trr5NYu6
Subscribe at FierceHealthPayer

Healthleaders Media

Wellpoint PCMH

HIMSSNYS Western New York Health IT Symposium on Wednesday June 26, 2013

The New York Chapter of HIMSS (HIMSSNYS) is conducting our annual HIMSSNYS Western New York Health IT Symposium on Wednesday June 26, 2013 at Roberts Wesleyan College located at 2301 Westside Drive in Rochester.  Please hold the date!  I will be sending a complimentary registration link as soon as we announce our exciting list of speakers.

The theme for this year’s event is “Patient Centered Care”.  Our members are interested in hearing more about the New York State Legislative perspective on the vision for healthcare including initiatives such as the Accountable Care Act, Meaningful Use and Accountable Care Organizations.  We are estimating 100 members from leading healthcare providers from the Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse areas.

We recently conducted our downstate annual conference “Health Information Technology (IT): When Disaster Strikes” on April 26 in NYC.  Our members are actively working to make Health IT more resilient for the next disaster given the recent natural disasters of Irene and Sandy.

New York is one of leaders in the country with the use of Electronic Health Records.  Across the state, healthcare organizations representing the diversity of healthcare services delivered in a variety of healthcare settings have invested over $2 Billion to date.  In February 2009, the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program was established as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  Title XIII of ARRA, called the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act allocated $19.2 Billion toward the development of healthcare IT.  To date, New York’s eligible hospitals, eligible professionals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) have received more than $700 Million in incentive payments for implementation of Electronic Health Records.

Buy tickets for New York State Chapter of HIMSS - Western NY HIT Symposium (Wed June 26th)  

This year's Western NY symposium theme is Patient Centered Care (PCC). PCC is at the center of most of the initiatives being pushed forward, including HIE, ACO's, Meaningful Use, PCMH, and even payment reform.

The event will be held on June 26th at Roberts Wesleyan College  Cultural Life Center's Hale Auditorium.

Agenda

8:00 am Registration Opens
Continental Breakfast
Vendor Area Open

8:45 am Opening Session
Welcome by RWC President or designee
Welcome by NYS HIMSS
General Announcements

9:00 am Morning Keynote Speaker:  Paul Wilder, VP of Product Management, NYS eHealth Collaborative

9:45 am Session 1:  Fran Weisberg, Executive Director, FLHSA on Changes in HC Landscape and Patient Centered Care

10:45 am Morning Break  Vendor Area Open

11:15 am Session 2:  RGH/Unity Speaker on Future of Care Delivery & Patient Centered Care

12:15 pm Lunch

1:30 pm Afternoon Keynote:  Ted Kremer, Executive Director, Rochester RHIO

2:30 pm Session 3:  Well Performing PCMH & ACO - Alan Gilbert, Team of Care

3:15 pm Panel Discussion

4:00 pm Closing Reception (vendor area open, and prize drawing - must be present to win) 

NYeC and NYCREACH RECs Offers New Medicaid Specialists Program to Support EHR Adoption

A new program to service and support Medicaid specialists in the adoption, implementation, and use of EHRs across New York State is being launched by the New York eHealth Collaborative Regional Extension Center (NYeC REC). The Medicaid Specialists Program will assist providers in qualifying for up to $63,000 of incentive payments from CMS, upon demonstrating their commitment to improving patient care.

Providers previously ineligible to receive support from the REC for earlier Meaningful Use initiatives are encouraged to enroll. Specialists and some primary care providers who may have previously been referred to as being ‘out-of-scope’ in the original ONC Meaningful Use Incentive Programs will be supported by this program.

Find out more about eligibility and conditions of participation at http://nyehealth.org/medicaid-specialists/.

To learn if you qualify for the Medicaid Specialists Program and to sign up, please contact: Peggy Frizzell, HIT Implementation Project Manager for NYeC at pfrizzell@nyehealth.org, or by phone at (646) 619-6562.

If you practice in NYC go to http://www.nycreach.org/medicaidspecialist to find out if you or a specialist at your practice is eligible.
Join NYC REACH now at no cost to start taking advantage of these valuable, free trainings.  

CDPHP Physicians’ Academy™ Inducts Class Of 2013

Kudos to the three physician awardees. SV

This year’s honorees are being recognized for their commitment to improving the quality of health care in our community,” said John D. Bennett, MD, president and CEO, CDPHP. “As a physician-founded and guided health plan, the connection we share with our network physicians is what sets us apart. The CDPHP Physicians’ Academy is just one way that we celebrate the work being done by local physicians to achieve better health, better care, and lower costs,” added Bennett.

CDPHP

NYS Medicaid Primary Care Increased Reimbursement Attestation

Primary Care Rate Increase Attestation Now Available

Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid primary care practitioners may qualify for increased reimbursement at the rate that would be paid for primary care services under Medicare. The New York State Medicaid Fee For Service and Managed Care Primary Care Rate Increase attestation form and FAQ document are now available on the eMedNY website at the following links:

Physicians: https://www.emedny.org/info/ProviderEnrollment/physician/Option1.aspx

Nurse Practitioners: https://www.emedny.org/info/ProviderEnrollment/nursePract/Option1.aspx

Nurse Midwives: https://www.emedny.org/info/ProviderEnrollment/midwife/Option1.aspx

For specific questions, please review the FAQ document. Additional questions can be forwarded to: pcri@health.state.ny.us.

Providers can sign up to receive ongoing updates on the PCRI program at: PCRI-L@listserv.health.state.ny.us and through the eMedNY listerv at https://www.emedny.org/Listserv/eMedNY_Email_Alert_System.aspx

FAQ

Happy Nurses Week!

National Nurses Week 2013
Delivering Quality and Innovation in Patient Care
Often described as an art and a science, nursing is a profession that embraces dedicated people with varied interests, strengths and passions because of the many opportunities the profession offers. As nurses, we work in emergency rooms, school based clinics, and homeless shelters, to name a few. We have many roles – from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner and nurse researcher – and serve all of them with passion for the profession and with a strong commitment to patient safety.
Background
National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

American Nurses Association