Although more than 30,000 clinicians qualified to receive incentive payments in 2011, many physicians remain uncertain about the EHR Incentive Program and how to register for, report and attest to meaningful use, according to an article published May 14 in the
Archives of Internal Medicine.
It’s no surprise that when a proposed rule on meaningful use is revealed, a litany of organizations want their voices heard. May 7 was the last day to submit comments to the Stage 2 meaningful use proposed rule to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and five organizations have joined the din of democratic speech on the legislation.
The American College of Radiology (ACR) has submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) regarding the agencies’ March 7 proposed rules to revise professional and technology requirements of the EHR meaningful use incentive program.
Claudia Williams, MS, director of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) state health information exchange (HIE) program, offered a review of the ONC’s progress on HIE and its primary goals for 2012 during the National eHealth Collaborative's webinar on “ONC’s National HIE Strategy.”
The first year of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) EHR incentive programs is currently lacking certain efficiencies to verify that providers meet the designated requirements, according to an April report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) has submitted its comments on the proposed rules for Stage 2 meaningful use, calling for more time to allow healthcare organizations to better prepare.
Hospital and health system business administrators are no strangers to deadlines. According to a poll conducted by U.S. audit, tax and advisory services firm KPMG, various levels of doubt are being felt across the healthcare community concerning its capability to meet the new EHR standards.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has corrected the Stage 2 meaningful use Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a sole source contract for RIS to Carestream Health.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted the full set of clinical quality measures included in the proposed rule for Stage 2 of meaningful use (MU) of EMRs on its website.
The internet has made instant, at-home access to entertainment, information and shopping a reality for years. Now, as more providers begin to offer online patient portals, a survey of adult outpatients has shown that online access to radiologic reports either immediately or within a period of a few days is often preferable to waiting for a consultation with a primary care physician, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) has commended the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) for its recent inclusion of proposed use requirements for medical imaging information in Certified EHR Technology as an objective of Stage Two Meaningful Use Criteria.
Policymakers should begin planning now for ways to make the coming transition to ICD-11 as tolerable as possible for the healthcare and payment community, according to an article in the March edition of Health Affairs.
Forty-nine states and Washington, D.C., already have taken action supporting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (PPACA) implementation, such as passing legislation, issuing regulations or other guidance, or actively reviewing insurer filings, according to an issue brief from Commonwealth Fund.
Quality improvement and patient-centered care—two concepts essential to the health reform effort—will require health IT. Current and future physicians must master the minimal competencies required to use health IT if the healthcare system is to reach its quality and cost containment goals, according to an article in the March edition of
Health Affairs.
To avoid payment adjustments, eligible hospitals in their first year of demonstrating meaningful use (MU) in the year immediately preceding any payment adjustment must ensure that the 90-day EHR reporting period ends at least three months before the end of the fiscal year, said Patricia B. Wise, RN, MS, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), vice president, health information systems, during a virtual briefing hosted by HIMSS.
Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) show that both large and small hospital vendors found success in the first year of meaningful use attestation, according to market researcher KLAS.
Since the initial meaningful use rule was published in fall 2010, the program has excluded, confounded and confused radiologists.
HIMSS12 featured more than 300 educational sessions, symposia and workshops and more than 1,100 exhibitors.
To reach the goals intended in the HITECH Act, providers and patients must be persuaded of the value of health information exchange and support its implementation, according to an article published in the March issue of Health Affairs.
