MSSNY Hosts Educational Programs Statewide on EHR Incentive

A series of six educational programs, entitled What Doctors and Office Managers Need to Know to Collect Available Money from Incentive Programs in 201,1 will be offered across the state in February. These programs will provide much needed information to physicians and their office staff on “meaningful use” and the federal incentive programs. Physicians will learn the necessary information to incorporate technology into their practices, learn how to access available funding for the transition. Physicians will also with MSSNY-vetted EHR vendors. The agenda will allow participants to view EHR vendor demonstrations and talk with experts on available incentives.



Tuesday, February 8: Melville Huntington Hilton
Wednesday, February 9: New York City NY Academy of Medicine
Thursday, February 10: Albany Marriott on Wolf Road
Tuesday, February 15: Syracuse Doubletree Inn at Carrier Circle
Wednesday, February 16: Rochester RIT Conference Center
Thursday, February 17: Buffalo Adam's MarkHotel


For more information, times and agenda, please click here.

NYC DOH PCIP August 2010 Bulletin



NYC DOH PCIP August 2010 Bulletin is now available for reading.
Excellent types on Meaningful Use, PCMH and more. SV

NYC DOH PCIP NYC REACH Public Events Calendar

Here is the link for the calendar of events.

Current topics include:

Case for conversion to EHRs and PCMH

How NYC REACH can assist practices achieve Meaningful Use

Calendar

NYC DOH PCIP EHR Open House June 10th.

NYC DOH PCIP:Open House:Transform your Practice with a Subsidized EHR

The Primary Care Information Project (PCIP) will hold an EHR Open House on June 10, 2010, from 12:00noon to 4:30 PM at 161 William St., 6th Floor. This will be an excellent opportunity for interested providers to meet the PCIP team and to hear how to switch from paper records to secure Electronic Health Records. Presentations will cover how to use an EHR to improve patient care, meet federal incentive payment requirements, and protect sensitive patient data. You will also learn how to get an EHR at a substantial discount through our limited incentive program.

You will have an opportunity to meet one on one with: EHR trainers; billing and coding instructors; NYC Business Solutions (to help with financial and staffing resources); and other providers who have implemented an EHR. The program will have specific sessions on (1) "PCIP and Meaningful Use" (from 12:00 noon until 1:00 PM); (2) "Q&A with Outreach, Infrastructure, Quality Improvement, Privacy and Security, and NYC Business Solutions Panel" (from 1:00 PM-1:45 PM); "EHR in My Practice: a Provider's Perspective"(2:00 PM-2:45 PM) and breakout sessions from 3:00 PM-4:30 PM on everything from Implementation, Revenue Cycle Management, Privacy and Security, to IT Experts and Outreach. All sessions are free of charge. Attendees are welcome to drop in at any point during the day.

RSVP & Questions
pcip@health.nyc.gov
Include your fullname, practice name and phone number.
Please let us know if you cannot make the event but have questions or would like to meet another day

Location
161 William St, 6thFloor, New York,NY
Near City Hall and Fulton St. Subway Stations: 2,3,4, 5,6,A,C,J,M,Z,R,W

DOHMH and NYC Business Solutions Seminar for physicians

Dear Fellow Physicians,

DOHMH and NYC Business Solutions are offering a Free business seminar to help physician offices reduce costs and improve cash flow. An expert, with 30 years of experience helping physician offices improve their business practices, will share ways to:

o Bill appropriately

o Control inventory and other expenses

o Create effective front end operations

o Decrease accounts receivable aging

o And much more



The event is

· March 3, 2010

· 8:30 to 10:00am

· 110 William Street, 4th Floor

· RSVP by 2/24 to business@sbs.nyc.gov or 212-513-6404.

SBS

NYC Health eHearts Rewards P4P

This is Pay For Performance program worth reviewing.
Unlike many other P4P programs, this will derive information from the electronic health record! Its a good start and one of many programs to become available. SV

Rewarding & Recognizing Providers for Healthy Hearts

eHearts is designed for adult primary care practices using an EHR that can transmit automated quality reports of core measures from the EHR to the QRS (examples of EHRs that are developing this functionality include NextGen and Epic). Practices interested in applying for the program must meet the following criteria:

1. Be a non hospital-based practice;
2. Verify completion of at least 1 in-person meeting with a PCIP Quality Improvement Specialist (for PCIP practices only);
3. Be able to transmit an automated report* from the EHR to the QRS;
4. Have a minimum number of patients specified by DOHMH across all core measure risk factors documented in the EHR (e.g., patients ages 18-75 AND with ischemic vascular disease, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, OR hypertension).

NYC DOH PCIP

NYC HEAL 5 Grant Category III: Pilot Implementations of Community-wide Interoperable EHRs

If you or a peer practice in NYC, this can be an excellent opportunity.
Please share this with information with others. SV

Background
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH)’s Primary Care Information Project (PCIP) is dedicated to improving the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care for Medicaid recipients and other underserved populations in New York City through the adoption and use of electronic health records (EHRs).

As part of a Mayoral initiative, the DOHMH has received $30 million from New York City, to support over 1,300 primary care providers to adopt an EHR that is designed to foster community health. To be eligible to participate in this element of the project, a provider must either practice in a District Public Health Office (DPHO) area, or care for a population where at least 30% of their patients are on Medicaid/Child health plus or are uninsured. These eligible providers will receive assistance that will allow them to implement the Take Care New York (TCNY) version of eClinicalWorks (eCW) EHR that contains special functionalities developed by the DOHMH that are designed to assist providers to deliver high quality preventative health care.

The DOHMH has secured additional external support to enhance the project and expand its eligibility criteria. It received a $3.2 million HEAL I, that will allow 29 NYC Community Health Centers (CHCs), comprised of 648 providers at more than 150 locations, to adopt an interoperable EHR system with public health functionality. It has received a $3 million Center of Excellence grant in public health informatics that it is using to research the optimal ways that EHRs can be used to support public health goals, such as improved population health. Finally, it has received a grant from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) to evaluate the project and disseminate its findings nationally.

HEAL V Goal
To assist over 650 primary care providers operating in the NYC community, who currently aren’t eligible for the mayoral funded program, to adopt an EHR that will allow them to improve the quality of care they deliver to their entire patient population.

Plan of Action
In HEAL NY Phase 5, DOHMH will serve as the lead applicant, or CHITA, to contract with New York State. This proposal will specifically extend the EHR to 665 providers, who aren’t eligible for the mayoral support project (i.e., do not care for a population where at least 30% of patients are on Medicaid/Child health plus or are uninsured), but who serve Medicaid beneficiaries and are interested in adopting a public health focused EHR including. Specialists would fall to hospitals or pay their own way. Non-eligible providers include:
a) Physician practices and ambulatory care clinicians in solo and small physician offices;
b) General hospital(s) with clinical affiliation to CHITA clinicians
c) Diagnostic and treatment centers and facilities
All providers participating in the project will receive the TCNY eCW EHR system that will contain decision support tools such as point-of-care reminders that incorporate clinical guidelines and specific public health indicators developed by the DOHMH and interfaces with DOHMH information systems such as the Citywide Immunization Registry. Using its existing contract, DOHMH will propose to use HEAL NY funds to purchase the licenses, implementation and support services, necessary to assist primary care providers to adopt the TCNY eCW EHR system, which is valued at approximately $12,000 per provider full time equivalent (FTE). Each provider FTE, however, will be expected to contribute $4,000 to a shared technical assistance pool and document at least $8,000 in in-kind contributions, which can include the purchase of new information technology hardware and lost productivity due to training and go-live scheduling.

Providers that are interested in participating in the project must complete an application (attached), a HEAL NY letter of intent and financial commitment form and return it to DOHMH by Friday November 9th, 2007. Completed documents should be sent via fax to (212) 788-3240 and via email to pcip@health.nyc.gov. Questions should be sent to Mat Kendall, PCIP Director of Operations mkendall@health.nyc.gov or Reena Samantaray, PCIP Outreach Coordinator rsamanta@health.nyc.gov (212) 341-2263

Columbia University Medical Center Physicians Select Allscripts Electronic Health Record for 2,200 Physicians

This will have a major ripple effect in the community as physicians attempt to research EHR products for their practice.

The NYC DOH PCIP has chosen eClinicalworks for it roll out to over 1000 physicians.

Interoperablity between major EHRs such Allscripts, eClinicalworks and Eclipsys would be boon for patients and health care providers alike. SV

Allscripts

Commissioner Daines Announces Statewide Plan to Enable Improvements in Health Care Quality, Affordability and Outcomes Through Health Information Technology

This represents an excellent opportunity to bring EHRs and HIT Collaboratives to small and medium sized practices. SV

ALBANY, N.Y., August 8, 2007 – Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., today announced the launch of a comprehensive health information technology program, part of Governor Eliot Spitzer's agenda to advance patient-centered care and enable improvements in health care quality, affordability and outcomes for each person, family and business in New York.

An initial $106 million will be invested in the health care community during 2007-2008 to support the implementation of health IT tools to allow portability of patients' medical records and new tools to assess and target improvements in health care quality.

The Commissioner has charged his new Office of Health Information Technology Transformation with coordinating health IT programs and policies across the public and private health care sectors. These programs and policies will establish the health IT infrastructure and capacity to support clinicians in quality-based reimbursement programs and new models of care delivery.

DOH's effort is part of Governor Spitzer's 'Patients First' health care agenda to improve the quality of health care as it shifts from institution-based care to community care. The following key objectives will drive DOH's investment in a community-based health information infrastructure, including:

* Ensuring the privacy and security of patients' individually identified health information, and supporting the right of New Yorkers to have greater control over and secure access to their personal health information.
* Providing public information about the quality and cost of care by payers and providers so consumers can compare costs and value.
* Using health IT as a tool to support better management of chronic disease, community-based long-term care, improved public health surveillance and reporting, and a modified certificate-of-need process to advance health care reform.
* Providing health IT tools required for validated quality measurement and reporting to support reimbursement reform, which is under way in the Medicaid program – the largest health care insurance payer in the state.
* Helping prepare New Yorkers for health care emergencies by developing the capacity to receive and exchange health care information, such as medications and lab test results.
* Helping clinicians and providers in small practices, community health centers and rural and under-served areas close the health IT gap between them and larger or urban institutions. This requires development of a sustainable financing plan, which includes public- and private-sector investment in health IT.
* Increasing the use of telemedicine, remote monitoring devices and other medical device applications to exchange information regardless of the venue where the patient receives services.

NY HEALTH