The document discusses key considerations for healthcare providers implementing electronic medical records (EMRs) in preparation for federal mandates going into effect in 2014. It notes that EMR implementation can be expensive but more affordable through software-as-a-service agreements. It also outlines various funding sources including federal loans and grants as well as expected long-term benefits like reduced errors and improved care coordination. Vendors' software must meet certification requirements to qualify for federal incentive payments.

1. Preparing for Implementation of the Mandated EMR (Electronic Medical Records) Copyright © 2009

14. Stimulus Money - What it Means Health Stimulus Stimulus 101 On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. The health IT component of the Bill is the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), which appropriates a net $19.5 billion dollars to encourage healthcare organizations to adopt and effectively utilize Electronic Health Records. The opportunity presented by the Bill is enormous. After literally decades of slow but steady progress towards converting our paper-based record system into an electronic one, we now stand poised for a monumental leap forward.

15. Stimulus Money - What it Means Details of the $19.5 billion One portion of the HITECH Act allocates $36 billion that will be paid to healthcare providers who demonstrate use of Electronic Health Records. The net cost to the Federal government is anticipated to be $19.5 billion after savings are achieved through efficiencies, tax revenue and Medicare fee reductions for non-adopters. Because the government wants to spur quick movement , all of the incentives include payments for up to five years but provide the largest payments early in the program. The incentive payments begin in 2011 to ensure the providers have time to adopt and learn to use the EHR; penalties begin in 2015.

16. Stimulus Money - What it Means Fee reductions: Providers who do not demonstrate meaningful use in 2014 will see, in their 2015 fee schedules from Medicare, a decrease of 1%. An additional decrease will be affected in 2016 and 2017 down to a total of 97% of the regular fee schedule; it can further be reduced to 95% if the HHS Secretary determines that total adoption is below 75% in 2018.

17. Stimulus Money – Obama Speech Click on Obama Picture to Activate

29. Certification Panels ARRA – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is here. $180 billion in federal funding has been set aside for healthcare-related spending. This not only impacts workflow, but could transform the roles of coders and billers. Without a doubt, EMRs are grabbing headlines – as well they should, given the emphasis placed upon them within the ARRA and the revenue-producing potential for vendors associated with implementation. But forward-thinking healthcare leaders will also recognize that “all ships rise with the tide.” In the early stages of technology planning, most practices will plot workflow processes and evaluate internal procedures in order to prepare for optimal use of an EMR

30. Certification Panels Long Term and Post Acute Care ( LTPAC ) Advisory Task Force By 2011, at least 10 percent of all orders processed in a hospital must be entered through CPOE to qualify that institution for CMS incentives under the HITECH Act, according to a proposed matrix of meaningful use released today by ONC’s HIT Policy Committee. Other 2011 hospital requirements are: implementation of drug-drug, drug-allergy, and drug-formulary checks maintenance of up-to-date problem lists of current and active diagnoses based on ICD-9 or SNOMED incorporation of lab-test results into EHR as structured data reporting of hospital quality measures to CMS implementation.

31. Certification Panels Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) RHIOs are multistakeholder organizations expected to be responsible for motivating and causing integration and information exchange in the nation’s revamped healthcare system. Generally these stakeholders are developing a RHIO to affect the safety, quality, and efficiency of healthcare as well as access to healthcare as the result of health information technology.

32. Certification Panels Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) RHIOs are a specialization of health information exchanges (HIE). Health information exchange (HIE) is defined as the mobilization of healthcare information electronically across organizations within a region or community. HIE provides the capability to electronically move clinical information between disparate healthcare information systems while maintaining the meaning of the information being exchanged. The goal of HIE is to facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data to provide safer, more timely, efficient, effective, equitable, patient-centered care. HIEs also provide the infrastructure for secondary use of clinical data for purposes such as public health, clinical, biomedical, and consumer health informatics research as well as institution and provider quality assessment and improvement.

33. Bottom Line! Times are a' changing This To This