Posts Tagged ‘Meaningful Use’
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1 GE Healthcare Announces New Solutions to Support EMR Meaningful Use
Feb 21, 2011. Press Releases.ORLANDO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–At the annual meeting of the Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) in Orlando this week, GE Healthcare announced two new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) solutions that have been certified for meaningful use. Centricity* Practice Solution 10 and Centricity Patient Online 12 are enhancements to existing EMR solutions from GE Healthcare that will help customers achieve Meaningful Use and go beyond, meeting the needs of clinicians and patients with elegant design, intuitive workflows and easy-to-use features.
“2011 will be a critical year for adopting meaningful use and GE Healthcare continues to lead the way by delivering solutions that can help healthcare providers easily and quickly achieve their goals”
“2011 will be a critical year for adopting meaningful use and GE Healthcare continues to lead the way by delivering solutions that can help healthcare providers easily and quickly achieve their goals,” said Jim Corrigan, Vice President and General Manager of GE Healthcare IT. “Our broad solution portfolio offers healthcare providers the tools they need to lower costs and gain better control of the information in their practices – whether they are working a small primary care practice or a large academic hospital or something in between.”
Centricity Practice Solution 10
Centricity Practice Solution 10 is the evolution of GE Healthcare’s fully integrated EMR and practice management system for physician practices. Centricity Practice Solution 10 now has embedded reports that providers can use to track their progress toward becoming “meaningful users.” This new version has already attained 2011/2012 Meaningful Use Stage I certification as a complete EHR from CCHIT®**. Leveraging the quality improvement and reporting capabilities that have long been part of GE Healthcare’s Medical Quality Improvement Consortium (MQIC), Centricity Practice Solution 10 customers will continue to be at the forefront of quality benchmarking through access to powerful and convenient reporting for Meaningful Use, PQRI, NCQA and other incentive-driven reporting initiatives. Centricity Practice Solution customers will now able to track the clinical quality measures for Meaningful Use, and also have improved data to drive quality care for their patients.
Centricity Practice Solution 10 features a welcoming design and easy navigation based on extensive research with EMR users. Robust without being overwhelming, each screen provides just the right amount of information, clearly demarcated so busy doctors can focus on just the patient data that’s needed at each moment – which can improve real, ongoing adoption of digital medical records. The solution is currently being implemented by several early-adopter customers. GE Healthcare expects the product to be generally-available in the second calendar quarter of 2011.
Centricity Patient Online 12
GE Healthcare is demonstrating Centricity Patient Online 12, a new release of the company’s established Patient Portal technology, at HIMSS11. Centricity Patient Online creates a single channel of communications that extends the provider workflow to the patient’s home to help reduce costs, enhance quality, and increase access to care. Centricity Patient Online 12 also helps providers meet Meaningful Use Stage 1 required and menu-pick rulings with many new capabilities. These include the ability to give patients an electronic copy of their health information upon request, to provide timely electronic access to the patient’s health information (including lab results, problem list, medication lists and medication allergies) within four business days of the information being available to the provider, to provide clinical summaries for patients for each office visit and to offer patient-specific educational resources. Centricity Patient Online 12 is generally available today.
Additional GE Healthcare Solutions Certified for Meaningful Use
GE Healthcare also announced that two more of its solutions recently achieved Meaningful Use certification. Centricity Enterprise 6.9 is 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as a complete EHR on February 17, 2011 by The Drummond Group***. Centricity Enterprise 6.6.3.2 had been previously announced as a certified Complete Eligible Hospital EHR****. Centricity EMR 9.5, which is expected to be available in early Q2, is also 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as a Complete EHR on October 28, 2010 by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT ®)*****. GE Healthcare also previously announced that Centricity Advance, its web-based EMR for smaller physician practices, is 2011/2012 Meaningful Use certified as a complete EHR******.
CCHIT and The Drummond Group made these designations in their capacity as Office of the National Coordinator – Authorized Temporary Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs) in accordance with the applicable eligible provider certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Currently-available versions of the company’s specialty solutions, Centricity Perinatal 6.9 and Centricity Perioperative Anesthesia 7.6, have also been submitted to certifying bodies and are expected to achieve modular certification in the first half of 2011. Modular certification indicates that the vendor has passed the mandatory privacy and security tests established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and supports some of the Meaningful Use objectives. To certify as a modular software vendor, GE Healthcare must meet the same mandatory privacy and security tests as full EHR vendors. Upon successful completion of the modular certification, GE Healthcare will announce the detailed components for which it is certified.
ABOUT GE HEALTHCARE:
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
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2 Surescripts and e-prescribing for 2011
Jan 6, 2011. Companies in Action.
The New Year brings even more responsibility to Surescripts e-prescription network. For those who aren’t aware of the expanse of their operations, Surescripts is the nation’s largest e-prescription data routing network—connecting pharmacies, physicians and insurance payers.
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0 CMS Announces Key Dates for EHR Incentive Programs In 2011
Dec 27, 2010. Implementation.Have you received your check from HITECH and ARRA stimulus yet? Many will, starting in 2011…
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0 Electronic health records incentives registration starts Jan. 3, 2011
Dec 22, 2010. News, Press Releases.CMS, ONC Outline Resources to Assist Eligible Providers
Today the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced the availability of registration for the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs. CMS and ONC encouraged broad participation and outlined online and in-person resources that are in place to assist eligible professionals and eligible hospitals who wish to participate.
Beginning Jan. 3, 2011, registration will be available for eligible health care professionals and eligible hospitals who wish to participate in the Medicare EHR incentive program. On January 3, registration in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program will also be available in Alaska, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. In February, registration will open in California, Missouri, and North Dakota. Other states likely will launch their Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs during the spring and summer of 2011.
“With the start of registration, these landmark programs get underway, and patients, providers, and the nation can begin to enjoy the benefits of widespread adoption of electronic health records,” said CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD. “CMS has many resources available to help providers register and participate, and we look forward to working with eligible professionals and eligible hospitals to facilitate the process, beginning on January 3rd and going forward.”
“It’s time to get connected,” said David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. “ONC and CMS have worked together over many months to prepare for the startup on January 3rd. ONC’s Certified HIT Product List includes more than 130 certified EHR systems or modules and is updated frequently. ONC also has hands-on assistance available across the country through 62 Regional Extension Centers
We look forward to continuing to work with CMS to assist eligible providers in 2011 and future years.”Eligible professionals and eligible hospitals must register in order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs. They can do so, starting Jan. 3, 2011, at a registration site maintained by CMS.
To prepare for registration, interested providers should first familiarize themselves with the incentive programs’ requirements by visiting CMS’ Official Web Site for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. The site provides general and detailed information on the programs, including tabs on the path to payment, eligibility, meaningful use, certified EHR technology, and frequently asked questions.
CMS announced the following key dates for the Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs’ first year:
• Jan. 3, 2011 – Registration for the Medicare EHR incentive program begins.
• Jan. 3, 2011 –States that are ready may launch their incentive programs for Medicaid providers.
• January 2011 – Some state agencies begin issuing Medicaid EHR incentive payments.
• April 2011 – Attestation for the Medicare EHR incentive program begins.
• May 2011 – Issuing of Medicare EHR incentive payments expected to begin.
• July 3, 2011 – Last day for eligible hospitals to begin their 90-day reporting period to demonstrate meaningful use for the Medicare EHR incentive program for federal FY 2011.
• Sept. 30, 2011 – Federal FY 2011 payment year ends at midnight for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs).
• Oct. 3, 2011 – Last day for eligible professionals to begin their 90-day reporting period for calendar year 2011 to demonstrate meaningful use for the Medicare EHR incentive program.
• Nov. 30, 2011 – Last day for eligible hospitals and CAHs to register and attest to receive an incentive payment for federal fiscal year 2011.
• Dec. 31, 2011 – Calendar 2011 payment year ends for eligible professionals.Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments will be available to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) when they adopt certified EHR technology and successfully demonstrate “meaningful use” of the technology in ways that improve quality, safety, and effectiveness of patient-centered care.
Professionals who meet the eligibility requirements for both the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs must select which program they wish to participate in when they register. They cannot participate in both programs; however, after receiving payment, they may change their program selection once before 2015. Hospitals that are eligible for both programs can receive payments from both Medicare and Medicaid.
Some states will launch their Medicaid EHR incentive programs beginning Jan. 3, 2011, but most will launch their programs during the spring and summer. Eligible providers with questions about their state’s launch date should contact their state Medicaid agency. Eligible providers seeking to participate in the Medicaid programs must initiate registration at CMS’ registration site but must complete the process through an eligibility verification site maintained by their state Medicaid agency.
Under the EHR incentive programs, eligible professionals can receive as much as $44,000 over a five-year period through Medicare. For Medicaid, eligible professionals can receive as much as $63,750 over six years. Under both Medicare and Medicaid, eligible hospitals may receive millions of dollars for implementing and meaningfully using certified EHR technology.
“The benefits of EHRs are widely recognized, and support for the incentive programs is strong in the health care field and among policymakers,” Dr. Berwick said. “The changeover from paper to electronic records will be challenging for clinicians and hospitals, but CMS and ONC have taken steps to ease the transition. We’ve provided flexibility in meeting the meaningful use requirements, both agencies have conducted extensive outreach, and we have the resources in place to help providers acquire certified EHR technology and meet the programs’ requirements. Immediate registration is not required, but we encourage eligible providers to sign up as soon as they have certified EHR technology and are prepared to participate. We are ready to help.”
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0 Sage a Preferred Vendor of South Florida Regional Extension Center
Dec 16, 2010. Press Releases.TAMPA, FL–(Marketwire – December 14, 2010) – Sage Healthcare Division, a unit of Sage North America, announced today it has been named a preferred vendor by South Florida Regional Extension Center (REC). Sage will make the ONC-ATCB certified Sage Intergy Meaningful Use Edition available to the center’s thousands of participating healthcare providers throughout the eight-county region.
Sage Healthcare Division is a major provider of electronic health records (EHR) and practice management software and solutions, serving approximately 80,000 physicians in North America, and has been named a preferred EHR vendor for numerous RECs including New York eHealth Collaborative, Ohio Health Information Partnership, Missouri Health Information Technology Assistance Center and Massachusetts eHealth Institute.
Sage Intergy Meaningful Use Edition, a certified meaningful use software solution, is a comprehensive clinical, financial and administrative solution that empowers physicians to advance the quality and efficiency of care they deliver. The Sage Intergy family of products includes integrated practice management, electronic health records, clinical and business intelligence and a Web-based portal for online patient engagement. Providers can access Sage Intergy Meaningful Use Edition from multiple practice locations, from home, or other remote locations either through a central patient database server, or as a Sage-hosted solution on a monthly subscription basis.
Sage Intergy Meaningful Use Edition easily tracks the details of a patient’s clinical history, shares and manages clinical information and combines complex medical practice functions into easy-to-navigate menus. Sage Intergy features centralized financial operations including billing, reporting, task management, and fully integrates with EDI services, Sage Intergy Practice Portal, Sage Intergy RIS and Sage Practice Analytics.
The South Florida REC was formed to assist healthcare providers in adopting EHRs and achieve meaningful use. The Office of the National Coordinator tasked RECs with helping physicians adopt EHR systems and qualify for the financial incentives that come with achieving meaningful use standards.
South Florida REC will partner with physicians and practices to provide them subsidies, tools, services and EHR guidance. Providers may seek REC assistance for free. The REC is part of an extensive network of more than 60 Regional Extension Centers across North America that serves as a neutral source for EHR and health information technology (HIT) as providers seek to navigate EHR options and select vendors that meet meaningful use requirements.
“Sage continues its alignment with RECs to support the mission of serving all physicians as they move toward EHR adoption,” said Ken Ernsting, Vice President of Business Development for Sage Healthcare Division. “South Florida is among the group of exceptional organizations assisting physicians as they navigate the new and continually evolving healthcare economy.”
Clinics eligible to utilize South Florida REC’s subsidized services include Priority Primary Care Providers in the area of family medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology, general internal or pediatric medicine. In addition, practices must be either individual or a small group practices (defined as 10 or fewer professionals with prescriptive privileges in the practice) primarily focused on primary care; public and critical access hospitals; and community health centers and rural health clinics.
About South Florida Regional Extension Center
The South Florida Regional Extension Center (REC) was established to promote and facilitate the adoption of electronic health records by health care providers in eight Florida counties from Key West to Vero Beach. Funded through the Office of National Coordinator of Health Information Technology and coordinated by a collaboration of health organizations, the nonprofit South Florida REC has already enrolled hundreds of physicians and hopes to eventually serve 2,500 with assessment, qualified hardware and software vendors, cost discounts, training, support and maintenance.About Sage Healthcare Division
Sage Healthcare Division provides integrated electronic health records, EDI applications and practice management systems to approximately 80,000 physicians and thousands of ambulatory care practices throughout North America. These systems enable physicians and practice managers to better manage their practices and improve profitability. Sage Healthcare Division is based in Tampa, Fla., and is a division of Sage North America. For more information, please visit www.sagehealth.com or call (877) 932-6301.About Sage North America
Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. Sage North America employs 4,000 people and supports 3.1 million small and midsized business customers, including medical practices in the United States. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs 13,100 people and supports 6.2 million customers worldwide. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.sagenorthamerica.com.© 2010 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos, and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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1 ***Dec. 14th and 15th: Live 2010 ONC Update
Dec 14, 2010. Government Initiatives, News.Big day for Healthcare reform, The ONC, CMS and HHS…
The update will cover some of the most current issues in Medicare and Medicaid incentives, HITECH act and Health Information exchange. There will probably be some announcements that will steer the discussions in 2011.
Go To: http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/hhs/101214/default.cfm?test=0&live=1&type=flv
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0 Medical Messenger’s AstralJet V4 Receives ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 Certification
Dec 13, 2010. Press Releases.DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Dec. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Medical Messenger, an innovative healthcare technology company is proud to announce that its AstralJet Version 4 is now certified to meet 2011-2012 criteria supporting Stage 1 Meaningful Use requirements under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as a Complete EHR by the Drummond Group. The certification deems the electronic health record (EHR) software capable of enabling providers to meet the Stage 1 meaningful use measures required to qualify for incentive payments under the ARRA.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101209/FL15062LOGO )
This EHR Module is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by an ONC-ATCB in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments.
“Our target is the smaller practices nationwide. As a SaaS model, Internet-based product our EHR/PM services can easily be delivered to providers nationwide. At $399 a month per provider without any installation, training or hidden fees, AstralJet is ONC certified, easy to use, and the lowest cost to operate Complete EHR in the market,” said founder, Dr. Mark Freeman. ”The First True 21st Century EHR/PM System—ASTRALJET V4 has all the features and functions for Meaningful Use certification, without overwhelming the practice with technology.”
The major features of AstralJet V4 are:
Certified – AstralJet is ONC Certified and ready for Meaningful Use by providers.
No Breach Potential – All data is encrypted either at rest on our database, or during exchange of patient health information.
eDocs – AstralJet has a “mini-PACS” feature that receives, stores, archives and retrieves images from JPEGS to PDFs to DICOMs
eCaching – our eCaching option is setup for Disaster Recovery purposes to give any practice a level of comfort in case of extreme emergency.Pricing – Our monthly subscription price is set for all provider’s, be they in affluent or low-income areas.
ePrescribing – full electronic prescription services.
Data Entry –Voice Recognition – for the providers that prefer to avoid typing, AstralJet will work with a provider’s copy of Dragon Medical 10 or above.
Handwriting – for providers that prefer to write theirnotes, AstralJet works with the handwriting technology available on most tablets.
Mike Hahl, AstralJet Product Manager says that “as 10 year veterans in testing software across many different industries, we were pleased to work with The Drummond Group for 2011/2012 certification. As with most processes, the first time you execute is the most difficult and the professionals at Drummond performed with precision.”
About Drummond Group
Drummond Group Inc., the trusted software test lab, provides effective and efficient electronic health record (EHR) testing to healthcare information technology vendors. As an Office of the National Coordinator Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB), Drummond Group works closely with healthcare software vendors to certify EHRs for use by providers that are looking to qualify for incentive funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
About Medical Messenger
For more information about AstralJet V4 please contact Michael Hahl or Keisha Salvant at 1-800-965-9959 or email us at mhahl@emrmessenger.com or ksalvant@emrmessenger.com or visit our website at www.emrmessenger.com.
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1 ONC-ATCB Update: Certified EHR Product List (CHPL 1.0)
Dec 11, 2010. Government Initiatives, Implementation.The Office of the National Coordinator Certified Health IT Product List (ONC-ATCB CHPL) is constantly being updated with newly certified EHRs.
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0 EHR Scope Q&A With Justin Barnes of Greenway Medical Technologies
Dec 6, 2010. Politics and HIT.
What is your history with Greenway?
I have been with Greenway for over seven years as the Vice President of Marketing, Corporate Development and Government Affairs. My other major title is Chairmen Emeritus of the EHR Association.
When I graduated, I went to work for HBO & Company. They merged in 1999 with McKesson. After working at HBO & Co., four associates and I left to form Healinx. McKesson later acquired Healinx and renamed it RelayHealth. I was not active in the organization at that time, but I was a shareholder. McKesson RelayHealth is much larger today.
That brings me up to my present position. Greenway has grown fairly substantially while I have been present, so it has been a wonderful opportunity.
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2 InfoGard Laboratories: Security Specialists in HIT
Dec 2, 2010. News.
We thought we would take the time to run some background on the latest electronic medical record software certifying organization to appear on the ONC-CHPL, InfoGard. We wanted to figure out why they aren’t as prominent on the ONC-CHPL as Drummond and CCHIT. It was found that there is in fact good reason. Apparently, they are “kind of a big deal” in development of Meaningful Use guidelines…
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