NYS MiniHIMSS 2014 Conference April 22-23 2014

I encourage anyone with an interest in learning about the evolution of Healthcare in NYS and beyond to attend. SV

Call for Presentations! The New York State Chapter is accepting applications for presentations at the New York State MiniHIMSS Conference on Wednesday April 23rd being held at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square. Submissions are being accepted through Friday March 14th. Conference Schedule:    Tuesday April 22nd 8:30am – 5 pm: CPHIMS Training    (course includes continental breakfast & lunch)    Wednesday April 23rd 8:00am – 6 pm: NYS HIMSS Chapter Conference    (includes continental breakfast, lunch & evening network reception)

Registration for the conference and for the CPHIMS training class is now open, and early bird discounts are available thru March 31st. 

This year's conference will focus on the following three tracks: 

Healthcare Transformation

• New models of health care management, from governance to payment models to care coordination
• Big data and analytics – clinical and business intelligence derived from old and new sources of data
• Applied technologies for special care settings, including behavioral health, home health, long term care or sub acute settings
• Consumer/Patient Engagement: successful strategies and tactics for engaging and activating consumers and patients to achieve better outcomes

Clinical Informatics 
Informatics workforce challenges, clinical transformation efforts, clinical intelligence, advanced decision support and the application of information to improve clinical care, etc.

• Security and privacy: how organizations and eligible providers have met the privacy and security requirements of HITECH including technical, operational and infrastructure built to support these areas.
• Regulatory challenges: ICD-10, MU, HIPAA Omnibus Rule, other.

Advanced Technologies 
Cloud computing, mobile technologies, RFID, Smart-rooms or disaster recovery/business continuity solutions, etc. 

Submit your presentation now by completing the online HIMSS Call for Presentations form, or download the Word document here, complete, and return to Anthony Ferrante at Anthony.Ferrante@CDILLC.com. 

Free 2014 PDR eBook - Download Today

Check the 2014 PDR eBook, SV

The FREE 2014 Physicians' Desk Reference® (PDR®) eBook you requested is now available for download and activation. The process is simple and only takes a few minutes. Download & Activate It Today! • PDR Network ID: U00496575 The new PDR eBook provides: • Trusted FDA-approved full prescribing information that you rely on • Convenience of a new convenient digital format to fit your work environment • Flexibility to download on multiple computers around your practices at no charge • Ability to share and invite other colleagues to download the eBook for themselves For more information, visit www.PDR.net/2014eBook. Thank you, PDR Network
Did You Know? You can download the free 2014 PDR eBook to multiple devices? • Yes! Download the PDR eBook to your tablet, your home computer, your office desktop, and more at no charge.
To ensure delivery of PDR.net e-mails, please add no-reply@message.pdr-mail.com and no-reply@mail.pdr-mail.com to your address book. If you would no longer like to receive emails regarding the PDR eBook click here to be removed from our email list PDR Network, LLC, 5 Paragon Drive, Montvale, NJ 07645-1725

Dr Karen DeSalvo chosen as new Head of ONC

Let's congratulate Dr DeSalvo and lend our support in her new public service role!

She has been a strong advocate for the use of HIT to improve the quality of care.

Happy Holidays to all. SV

GovernmentHealthIt

Advanced Health Information Resources

MEANINGFUL USE TIMELINES HAVE BEEN EXTENDED!

You have spoken and they have listened. 
Keep sharing your opinions so SV

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today proposed a new timeline for the implementation of meaningful use for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) proposed a more regular approach to update ONC’s certification regulations.

Under the revised timeline, Stage 2 will be extended through 2016 and Stage 3 will begin in 2017 for those providers that have completed at least two years in Stage 2. The goal of this change is two-fold: first, to allow CMS and ONC to focus efforts on the successful implementation of the enhanced patient engagement, interoperability and health information exchange requirements in Stage 2; and second, to utilize data from Stage 2 participation to inform policy decisions for Stage 3.

CMS

eClinicalworks National Users Conference 2013 updates

Visit twitter.com/salvolpe and twitter.com/eclinicalworks for updates on the event.

sal

eClinicalWorks and EPIC collaborating with interoperability

This should help make coordination of care much more fluid and this is done using industry standards. SV

eClinicalWorks and Epic Work Collaboratively to Make EHRs Interoperable

Interoperability Between Systems Enables Real-time Communication Among Medical Providers in Different Care Settings

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.—September 24, 2013—eClinicalWorks® today announces bi-directional interoperability between the eClinicalWorks electronic health records (EHR) system and Epic’s EHR system. This integration allows for real-time data transfer between the systems, facilitating coordination of care between providers in various care settings and ensuring that providers have more complete and accurate patient information at the time of care. 

eClinicalworks

 eClinicalworks National Users Conference 

EPIC

Dr Farzad Mostashari: next stop Brookings!

Good luck and thanks for continuing to support small practices. SV

The Brookings Institution

Government Health IT

Healow App from eClinicalWorks: general information and video

I've been using HEALOW  on my cellphone for a while now and can say its rather impressive from the point of view of a physician as well as a patient. Runs on Apple and Android devices. SV

Here are some of utilities:

Simplify Your Life

 

Manage Your Medicine Cabinet

Being an Informed Patient is an Informed Consumer

 

Use Your Time Wisely

Stay Connected to Your Healthcare Providers

Here is a linik to a short video that helps patients understand the advantages of using the Patient Portal and the Healow app.

eClinicalWorks

Healow

eClinicalWorks National Users Conference 2013 Details Available

Free 2014 Physicians' Desk Reference eBook — Reserve Yours Today

Free 2014 Physicians' Desk Reference eBook — Reserve Yours Today
	The Physicians' Desk Reference® has stood as the authoritative source for FDA-approved full drug labeling information, trusted by healthcare professionals for nearly 70 years to support their prescribing decisions. Now, for the first time, this industry-leading resource is being made available in a convenient eBook format. Reserve your FREE copy of the 2014 Physicians' Desk Reference eBook, register now at PDRNetwork.com/eBook. For additional information, please contact PDR Network at (866) 925-5155 or customerservice@pdr.net. Thank you, PDR Network
Pass It On! Would someone else in your office benefit from the Physicians' Desk Reference eBook? Encourage them to visit PDRNetwork.com/eBook to reserve their own free eBook download.

CMS: How to Submit CQMs in 2013 ; PQRS Update; Electronic Reporting Pilots

Learn More About Submitting Quality Data for the EHR Incentive Programs for 2013 

Providers must report clinical quality measures (CQMs) to CMS to demonstrate meaningful use under the EHR Incentive Programs.

For the 2013 reporting year, there are two options for reporting CQMs for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program: through the CMS Attestation System OR through electronic reporting pilots.

Attestation
When you are ready to submit CQM data through the Attestation System, you should:

1. Log in to the CMS Registration and Attestation system
2. Enter your data for the meaningful use core and menu objectives
3. Report your CQM data directly from your certified EHR technology into the Attestation System:
   • Eligible professionals must report a total of six CQMs
     • Three core or alternate core measures (only report an alternate core measure if one of the core denominators is zero)
     • Three additional measures from a list of 38
   • Eligible hospitals must report a total of 15 CQMs
     • Two measures that target emergency department throughput processes
     • Seven measures that address the care of patients with stroke
     • Six measures that address the care of patients with venous thromboembolism
   • If you are attesting to CQM data for the EHR Incentive Programs you may submit a zero result for a CQM if the zero is the accurate calculation from your EHR

Electronic Reporting Pilots
Eligible professionals and eligible hospitals also have the option to submit CQMs through electronic reporting, or eReporting, pilots:

• For eligible professionals: Through the PQRS-Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot
• For eligible hospitals: Through the QualityNet portal

Providers participating in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program will need to attest through their state’s internet-based portal.

Exclusions
Some CQMs cannot be met during the reporting period chosen by the provider and so exclusions are available for those CQMs. For example, many CQMs for EPs require a minimum of two visits for a patient to meet the denominator criteria. Exclusions do not count against a provider’s attestation requirements.

2014 CQM Reporting Changes
Beginning in 2014, all providers must report CQMs based on new requirements outlined in the Stage 2 final rule, regardless of what stage they are in.  For more information on these requirements, such as the number of CQMs and how to select which ones to report, visit the 2014 CQMs webpage.

Want more information about the EHR Incentive Programs?
Make sure to visit the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website for the latest news and updates on the EHR Incentive Programs.

CMS: New and Updated FAQs for the EHR Incentive Programs Now Available August 28 2013

New and Updated FAQs for the EHR Incentive Programs Now Available 

To keep you updated with information on the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, CMS has recently added four new and five updated FAQs to the CMS FAQ system. We encourage you to stay informed by taking a few minutes to review the new information below.

New FAQs:

1. When meeting the meaningful use measure for computerized provider order entry (CPOE) in the EHR Incentive Programs, does an individual need to have the job title of medical assistant in order to use the CPOE function of certified EHR technology for the entry to count toward the measure, or can they have other titles as long as their job functions are those of medical assistants? Read the answer here.
2. For the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, how should an eligible professional (EP), eligible hospital, or critical access hospital attest if the certified EHR vendor uses 2011 edition certified EHR technology for the first part of 2013 and 2014 edition certified EHR technology for the remainder of 2013? Read the answer here.
3. The specifications for Denominator 2 for measure CMS64v2 do not produce an accurate calculation according to the measure’s intent. When will a correction to this clinical quality measure (CQM) be published? Read the answer here.
4. For the meaningful use Stage 2's transitions of care and referrals objective, in what ways can the second measure be met that requires more than 10% of the summary care records provided for transitions of care and referrals to be electronically transmitted in the EHR Incentive programs? Read the answer here.

Updated FAQs:

1. How does a provider attest to a meaningful use objective (e.g., the “transitions of care,” “view/download patient data,” and public health objectives) where the provider electronically transmits data using technical capabilities provided by a health information exchange? Read the answer here.
2. If an EP sees a patient in a setting that does not have certified EHR technology but enters all of the patient's information into certified EHR technology at another practice location, can the patient be counted in the numerators and denominators of meaningful use measures for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs? Read the answer here.
3. When new versions of CQM specifications are released by CMS, do developers of EHR technology need to seek retesting/recertification of their certified complete EHR or certified EHR module in order to keep its certification valid? Read the answer here.
4. If EHR technology “Product A” is already certified to the December 2012 CQM specifications, can it be updated to include CMS updated June 2013 specifications without seeking retesting/recertification? Read the answer here.
5. If EHR technology is not yet certified to CQM criteria (45 CFR 170.314(c)(1) through (3)), can the EHR technology be tested and certified to only the newest available version of the CQM specifications or must it be tested and certified to the December 2012 specifications (first or as well)? Read the answer here.

MSSNY'S next Advocacy Matters program: NYS Health Information Network: SHIN-NY September 10, 2013

Register today for MSSNY'S next Advocacy Matters program: September 10, 2013

Program Title: The State Health Information Network- New York (SHIN-NY)- What is it and how is the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) and the Department of Health’s Division of Health Information Transformation (OHITT) working to enhance information sharing and care coordination across the health care continuum  

Program Participants:
David Whitlinger, Executive Director, New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC)
Steve Smith, Director of the Division of Health Information Technology Transformation
Educational Objectives:

• Provide data concerning EHR adoption rates in New York State and how they compare with other states.
  
  
• Describe the work of NYeC/DOH OHITT through the Statewide Collaborative process in establishing a roadmap for developing health information exchange in NYS.
  
  
• Discuss the State Health Information Network (SHIN-NY), how it operates, its capabilities, how physicians can connect to it and the costs of participation.
  
  
• Discuss additional statutory and regulatory recommendations under consideration by NYeC and the DOH OHITT.

Register here

Dr. Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will step down this Fall.

Dr Mostashari will be adding his legacy at ONC to his contributions to the improvement of Healthcare in the US. He has the great ability to connect with practicing physicians, technology gurus and policy wonks.

Godspeed Dr Mostashari, thank you for bringing us to this far.

Full text of resignation email  

ONC Bio

Heatlhit.gov

CMS: EHR Incentive Programs: New FAQs on HIE and Public Health Measure Requirements for Meaningful Use

Review New FAQs on HIE and Public Health Measure Requirements for Meaningful Use

News Updates | August 2, 2013
	Review New FAQs on HIE and Public Health Measure Requirements for Meaningful Use To keep you updated with information on the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, CMS has recently added five new FAQs and an updated FAQ to the CMS FAQ system. We encourage you to stay informed by taking a few minutes to review the new information below. New FAQs: Can a state capture electronic Clinical Quality Measures, or eCQMs, for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program through a Health Information Exchange (HIE)? Read the answer here. Can a public health agency use a HIE to interface with providers who are submitting public health data to meet the public health objectives of meaningful use (such as submitting information to an immunization registry, reporting lab results to a public health agency or reporting syndromic surveillance information)? Read the answer here. If a provider utilizes a health information organization that participates with the eHealth Exchange but is not connected to public health entities in the provider’s state, does the provider still need to connect to those entities for purposes of participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program? Read the answer here. How does a provider attest to a meaningful use objective (e.g., the “transitions of care,” “view/download patient data,” and public health objectives) where the provider electronically transmits data using technical capabilities provided by a HIE? Read the answer here. If an EP or hospital attesting to meaningful use in the EHR Incentive Program submits a successful test to the immunization registry in year 1 of Stage 1 and engages with the immunization registry in year 2, but does not achieve ongoing submission of data to the immunization registry during their reporting period in year 1 or year 2, should they attest to the measure or the exclusion? Read the answer here. Updated FAQ: If multiple eligible professionals or eligible hospitals contribute information to a shared portal or to a patient's online personal health record (PHR), how is it counted for meaningful use when the patient accesses the information on the portal or PHR? Read the answer here. Want more information about the EHR Incentive Programs? Make sure to visit the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs website for the latest news and updates on the EHR Incentive Programs.

Physician Office Usage of Electronic Health Records Software : January 2013

Thanks to Medical Economics for the link.
SK & A provides updates to the Federal Government. SV

Medical Economics

SK & A

Medical Informatics Update Analytics and Tools for Care Coordination: IBM Research and the Columbia University Center for Advanced Information Management October 16, 2013

SAVE THE DATE

Medical Informatics Update
Analytics and Tools for Care Coordination
October 16, 2013

The 2013 edition of the Medical Informatics Update is a joint effort between IBM Research and the Columbia University Center for Advanced Information Management. The event will be held on October 16, 2013 in Yorktown, NY.

Care coordination is generally understood as the brokering of relevant services for patients to ensure that their needs are met such as that services are not duplicated by the providing organizations involved.

In contemporary usage, successful care coordination requires complex information systems able to manage and provide a wide range of patient related information such as medical status, medications, treatment plans, and alerts. This information needs to be efficiently conveyed to operational users of electronic medical records and other healthcare applications.

This Medical Informatics Update event on the 16th of October, 2013 will venture beyond the typical meaning of care coordination to include progress in analytic methods and other computational strategies that address broader problems in achieving care coordination in a 21st century  healthcare system.

Currently well informed speakers, from industry, academia, and government, have been invited and have agreed to share their achievements and the status of their fields to our interdisciplinary audience.

The event will feature invited talks, a poster and demonstration area, and a panel session on the topic of real-world care coordination efforts in New York State institutions.

Admission is free and lunch and refreshments will be provided by IBM, but pre-registration is required by September 15 2013. You may pre-register by sending email to Dr. Daby Sow at sowdaby@us.ibm.com. Feel free to contact Dr. Sow via email if you have any questions about this event. Alternatively, contact the Center for Advanced Information Management at 212.305.2944.

Attention Specialists:Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know about Meaningful Use and EHRs!

PCIP/NYC REACH are holding a FREE Meaningful Use Forum: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know about Meaningful Use and EHRs!

Tuesday, July 16th, 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Excelsior Grand Catering Hall 2380 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island

I strongly encourage that you attend or send a representative. Please also pass along the invitation to your peers as prior registration is requested. SV

This breakfast meeting will cover a variety of topics, such as:
- Meaningful Use Overview (including Stage 2)
- Upcoming Deadlines and Penalties
- Vendor Selection Tips
- Our new Medicaid Specialist Program
- Other NYC REACH services, including the new PEEK (Patient Engagement and Education Kiosk) Project and billing optimization services. We have free assistance options for those that qualify and low-cost service options for all providers.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with EHR Vendors, Billing Clearinghouses, Provider Champions, and NYC REACH Staff Members. We will also honor those Staten Island providers who have already achieved Meaningful Use and Patient-Centered Medical Home Level 3.

Registration Link

eClinicalWorks Case Study Videos

eClinicalWorks has posted a series of case studies on Vimeo.

Here is the case study on our office. SV

eClinicalWorks Case Study: Salvatore Volpe MD PC from eClinicalWorks on Vimeo.

eClinicalWorks

CareFirst BCBS Patient-Centered Medical Home Program Trims Expected Health Care Costs by $98 million in Second Year

An excellent example of the results of savings derived by redirecting enhanced reimbursement to PCMH providers. SV

Baltimore, MD (June 6, 2013)  - In the second-year (2012) of one of the nation’s earliest, large-scale Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) programs, health care costs for 1 million CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) members covered by the effort were $98 million less than the company projected. The results represent a savings of 2.7 percent on the total projected 2012 health care costs for PCMH-covered members and improve upon the 1.5 percent savings against projected costs registered by the program in 2011.

Approximately 66 percent of participating primary care panels – groups of physicians that join together to participate in the PCMH program – earned increased reimbursements for their 2012 performance in the program. Increased reimbursement levels – or Outcome Incentive Awards (OIAs) – are based on a combination of savings achieved by a particular panel against projected 2012 total care costs for CareFirst members and performance on quality measures related to the provision of care to the panel’s patients.

“These results are encouraging,” said CareFirst President and CEO Chet Burrell. “The PCMH program was designed with the goal of bending the health care cost trend, and our 2nd year results suggest that program is having just such an impact. In addition, more participating panels achieved savings and the vast majority of those who did so in 2011 were able to sustain those results in 2012. It is a measurable and meaningful step in the right direction of slowing the rise of health care costs.”

Currently, nearly 3,600 primary care providers (primary care physicians and nurse practitioners) participate in CareFirst’s PCMH program. One hundred-ninety six of the 297 eligible panels (66 percent) earned OIAs for the 2012 program year; 60 percent of panels earned OIAs in the program’s first year. The level of OIA for each Panel is based on both the level of quality and degree of savings achieved by the participants of the Panel.

2012 PCMH program highlights:

• Primary care panels earning OIAs achieved an average 4.7 percent savings against expected 2012 care costs.
• Panels that did not earn OIAs registered costs that averaged 3.6 percent higher than expected in 2012; an improvement over 2011 performance when panels that did not earn an OIA recorded costs 4 percent higher than expected.
• 74 percent of panels that earned OIAs in 2011 earned them again in 2012, meaning their patients registered lower than expected total health care costs for two consecutive years.
• On average, Panels earning OIAs will see an increase in their reimbursement level of 29 percentage points. This increase is in addition to a 12 percentage point increase paid to all participants that continue to remain in good standing in the PCMH program.
• Quality scores for panels that earned OIAs were 3.7 percent higher than for panels that did not earn OIAs in 2012. Overall, quality scores for PCMH panels rose by 9.3 percent from 2011 to 2012 – a significant one year increase.

“While the numbers are important, they don’t tell the entire story,” said Burrell. “We are now well into the 3rd year of the PCMH program, and we have created an infrastructure of nursing support, easily-accessible online tools and data, and targeted health programs that make it possible for primary care providers to more effectively manage care for their sickest patients in a more coordinated fashion than ever before. Thousands of our members are benefitting directly from this care coordination and that impact will grow substantially as the program matures.”

CareFirst launched its PCMH program in January 2011. Today, more than 1 million CareFirst members are patients of physicians participating in the PCMH program. Nearly 80 percent of all eligible primary care physicians in CareFirst physician networks participate in the PCMH program.

“The early success and promise of the PCMH program encouraged us to seek and secure an Innovation Challenge Grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to expand the PCMH model to our area’s Medicare population,” said Burrell. “Medicare beneficiaries, who frequently have complex health needs and multiple chronic health conditions, could benefit greatly from the coordinated model of care offered through our PCMH. We expect to launch our CMS-funded Maryland Medicare PCMH pilot this summer and will continue to look for ways to expand the model.”

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.