Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act), eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals and eligible professionals must make a “meaningful use” of “certified electronic health technology” or face reductions in Medicare reimbursement. Conducting or reviewing a security ...
Update: On April 1, 2014, President Obama signed into law the "Doc Fix" bill, Public Law 113-93, which extends the deadline for ICD-10 for an additional year. Section 212 of this law prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from adopting ICD-10 code sets prior to October 1, 2015.
Everyone is a-twitter (pun intended) about the ...
UPDATE: 2/10/2014. On Friday 2/7/2014, CMS announced an extension until March 31, 2014 for Eligible Professionals to submit their 2013 EHR Meaningful Use (MU) attestation. In addition, Eligible Hospitals that had trouble submitting their 2013 MU attestation may be able to retroactively submit their MU attestation to avoid the 2015 ...
A new bill entitled the "Electronic Health Records Improvement Act" has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. Its stated purpose is to “amend certain requirements and penalties implemented under the Medicare and Medicaid programs by the HITECH Act of 2009, which would otherwise impede eligible professionals from adopting ...
The deadline is fast approaching for eligible professionals (“EPs”) to file attestations to receive electronic health record (“EHR") incentives available under Medicare’s Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH Act”).
To receive an EHR incentive payment, EPs, such as physicians ...
On Thursday, February 23, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, released a 455-page Proposed Rule specifying the Stage 2 criteria that eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals ...
On November 30, 2011, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued a press release announcing proposed steps to encourage physicians and hospitals to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) this year and receive incentive payments made available under the Health Information Technology for Economic ...
UPDATE: On July 6, 2011, Farzad Mostashari, M.D., ONC Chief, backed the ONC Policy Committee's recommendation to delay implementing Stage 2 meaningful use criteria.
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On June 16, 2011, Paul Tang, M.D. , as Vice Chair of the Health IT Policy Committee for the Office ...
On September 27, 2010, CMS updated its answers and posted a few new ones to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the electronic health record (EHR) incentives available under the HITECH Act's Meaningful Use ("MU") Final Rule. Here is a sampling of answers addressed in the FAQs:
- Registration for Medicare MU incentives is to be available ...
Update: On August 9, 2010, Humana, Inc. and athenahealth, Inc. announced their collaboration to provide physicians access to a practice management/EHR software system combined with a rewards program related to quality measures. For more information, click here.
On August 5, 2010, four major commercial health insurance payors participated ...
On Thursday, July 22, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a publicly available teleconference to give an overview of the 800+ page Final Rule on Meaningful Use (MU) under the HITECH Act, as well as an overview of the Final and Proposed Rules on Temporary & Permanent Certification Program and the Final Rule on ...
Update: On December 29, 2010, HHS published in the Federal Register a "Correcting Amendment" to its Final Rule on Meaningful Use, which can be viewed here.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wasted no time in putting the brand new CMS Director to work on July 13, 2010, in announcing the release of two rules under the Health Information Technology ...
On Thursday, July 29, 2010, physicians, physician practice managers, and others interested in learning more about the regulations governing incentives under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act) are invited to a free education session (by Kathie McDonald-McClure) and networking event ...
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This article was originally written in June 2009, before HHS released the Proposed Rule on "meaningful use" on December 30, 2009 and before President Obama signed the Continuing Extension Act of 2010. Under the Proposed Rule, the determining factor of whether a physician is "hospital-based" under the Medicare incentive ...
On January 19, 2010, the Greater Louisville Health Enterprises Network together with Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Bluegrass Chapter, will present a panel presentation with discussions surrounding the next steps under the Health Information Technology for Clinical and Economic Health Act (HITECH), part of the ...
By 2014, hospitals and physicians whom Medicare reimburses for services and items will need to have adopted an electronic health record (EHR) according to rules promulgated under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) or risk reductions in their Medicare reimbursement. On December 30, 2009, the ...
On Monday, November 23, 2009, Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology under the Department of Health & Human Services, announced the launch of the Health IT Buzz blog. The blog is envisioned as a way to reach out to the healthcare IT community and public at large in order to create an open dialogue about ...
I will be giving a presentation on "HITECH for Physicians" on Wednesday, October 14, 2009, from 7:30 am to 9:00 am. The presentation will take place at MedX12 offices, Ormsby III, 10200 Forest Green Blvd. (just off of North Hurstbourne Lane) in Louisville, Kentucky. The presentation will focus on those aspects of the HITECH Act that provide ...
Many small physician practices may be relying on health information technology (HIT) loans from their state to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) in their practices. Before a physician can seek such a loan, the state must have such loans available. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provides grants to states to ...