MU Advisor

Certified Products can help with Integrated Care

Paul_Kirsch — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:49:30 +0000

One of the big topics in Behavioral Health is integration with Primary Care or Physical Healthcare. Many of the functionality enhancements made to Behavioral Health EHR like Echo help support the exchange of data among systems. They also include Medical data now, such as Vital Signs, Growth Charts etc.

Learn more about integrated care at the Echo website

MU Requirement for Exchanging Clinical Data – Can I use a CDROM or USB Drive?

muadmin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:05:44 +0000

One of the Meaningful Use requirements (170.304(i)) refers to the electronic exchange of data. One question we will get is how does the government define “electronic”? Can it be as simple as passing media back and forth?

The short answer is no. To read the more detailed answer, check out the entire CMS FAQ:

https://questions.cms.hhs.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/10638

HIT Dashboard Resource at the HIMSS Website

muadmin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:54:23 +0000

HIMSS has put together a very nice dashboard with everything from Davies Awards winners (including Echo customer, Heritage Behavioral Health) to HIEs and everything in between. You can check out the site here:

http://www.himss.org/statedashboard/default.aspx

Stage 2 Announcement Expected at HIMSS Conference

muadmin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:47:37 +0000

Based on what I have been reading at various websites, it appears that there will be an official announcement about Stage 2 Meaningful Use at the HIMSS Conference in Early March. Stay tuned for info…

Do I have to do my MU Payment Years Consecutively? (the short answer is “no” and you should be focused on that first payment)

Paul_Kirsch — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:49:53 +0000

One of the biggest causes of concern I hear from people when deciding whether to take the plunge and apply for MU Funds is they are concerned that maybe they aren’t quite ready to attest to 90 days in year two.

This logic should not be an impediment to applying for funds immediately. Why? The way that CMS has set up the payment structure for MU Funds, there is nothing that says you need to get the payments in consecutive years. That means you can apply for year one, get that payment and then take some time to figure out the best way for your company to implement the policies and procedures needed to attest successfully in payment year two and beyond.

Year 1 of Medicaid payments could not be more simple. Adopt, Implement or Upgrade to a completely Certified EHR, like Echo’s Clinician’s Desktop. No numbers to attest to, just a simple easy way for you to have $21,250 per provider in your pocket. Medicaid did this intentionally. They want you to implement an EHR, and they’ve structured the payments and terms to make it as easy as possible.

So what about that second year? Yes, you will need to attest for a 90 day reporting period. But, you have until 2017 to start that, so you have some time. Don’t think you’ll ever be ready? That means you’ll miss out on about $40,000 per provider, but you still get to keep the $21,250 no matter what.

More another day on why you really can’t afford *not* to set up your organization for successful MU attestion- after all it’s becoming a world where the integration of Behavioral Health and Primary Care is happening right now. The Meaningful Use attestation measures support that initiative. Most of the time you’re used to government regulations causing you to possibly lose money. The cool thing with MU incentive funds is, you will gain money if you follow the regulations.

And here’s something else to think about…if you have part time providers who qualify, they can only get that $21,250 through one organization. May as well be yours.

Stage 2 Requirements Recap

Paul_Kirsch — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:37:24 +0000

This is a blog those of us at Echo refer to a lot when keeping up with Certification criteria. He’s taken the proposed requirements for stage 2 and put it into Word and Excel docs and then also gives a quick overview of the new requirements. \http://motorcycleguy.blogspot.com/2011/10/meaningfuluse-stage-2-certification.html Note for those of you who are focused only on Eligible Providers (Eligible Hospitals do not include Behavioral Healthcare facilities at this time), he talks about EH and … Continue reading →

Top 5 Roadblocks that HIE’s Face

Paul_Kirsch — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:31:24 +0000

A good article from Government Health IT on the top 5 Roadbocks that HIEs face.

http://govhealthit.com/news/top-5-roadblocks-hies-face

Best Practices for Hospitals Implementing HIEs

Paul_Kirsch — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:29:47 +0000

Although not specific to Behavioral Health, this is a good read for anyone who is considering joining into an HIE in their area.

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/7-best-practices-for-hospitals-implementing-health-information-exchanges.html

Stage 2 – Certification Requirements

Paul_Kirsch — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:56:17 +0000

Meaningful Use Stage 2 Criteria are not yet finalized- but the HITSC Workgroup has come up with some recommendations on what the Certification criteria should look like for Stage 2, based on the currently proposed Stage 2 MU Requirements.

Download the Certification Criteria Here

CMS Meaningful Use Timeline

Paul_Kirsch — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 21:06:59 +0000

CMS has a handy timeline at their website to tell you when each of the milestones related to Meaningful Use occur. Here’s a link to it.