$10.7B in Meaningful Use Payments Doled Out as of Dec. 2012, CMS Says

Nearly $10.7 billion in meaningful use incentive payments has been  distributed to more than 190,000 hospitals and eligible professionals through  the end of December 2012, according to the latest report from CMS, Modern Healthcare reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who  demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record systems can  qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

Details of Report

According to the most recent data, both the total incentive payments  distributed and the number of paid providers increased substantially from CMS’ November 2012 totals. Total payments increased by 15%  from $9.3 billion in November 2012, while the number of paid providers —  including those in Medicare Advantage Plans — rose by 7.7% from 176,561 in  November 2012.

The report also found that:

• 4,224 hospitals are registered for the incentive programs under Medicare,  Medicaid or both, up by 1% from 4,193 in November 2012; and
• 350,844 physicians and other eligible professionals are registered under  either Medicare or Medicaid, an increase of 4.5% from the 335,879 registered in  November 2012 (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 1/25).

Source: iHealthBeat

Poll: Stage 2 Readiness Varies Among Hospital Administrators

Hospital and health system administrators’ confidence about their  organization’s readiness to meet Stage 2 meaningful use requirements varies,  according to a KPMG Healthcare & Life Sciences Institute poll, Healthcare IT News reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who  demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record  systems can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

The poll — which was conducted during a November webcast — included 140  respondents.

Findings on Stage 2 Readiness

According to the poll:

• 47% of respondents said they are somewhat confident about their  organization’s readiness to meet Stage 2 requirements;
• 36% said they are confident about their organization’s readiness;
• 11% said they are not aware of their organization’s level of readiness; and
• 4% said they are not confident at all about their organization’s  readiness.

Findings on Barriers to Meeting Stage 2 Requirements

When asked about the biggest challenges to meeting Stage 2 requirements:

• 29% of respondents cited training and management changes;
• 19% cited a lack of monitoring processes to help ensure sustained  demonstration of meaningful use;
• 19% cited capturing the relevant data electronically as part of clinical  workflow;
• 12% cited the lack of a dedicated meaningful use team; and
• 6% cited the limited availability of vendors that have appropriate certified  technology.

According to the poll, 14% of respondents cited other reasons as the biggest  challenge to meeting Stage 2 requirements.

Findings on Ability To Comply With HIPAA Privacy and  Security Standards

When asked about their organizations’ ability to comply with HIPAA privacy  and security regulations:

• 47% of respondents said they are somewhat comfortable;
• 31% said they are comfortable;
• 13% said they are unsure about their level of comfort; and
• 8% said they are not at all comfortable (McCann, Healthcare IT News,  12/20).

Source: iHealthBeat

Report: Advanced Use of EHRs, HIE Essential for Successful ACO

Advanced use of an electronic health record system and an implementation  strategy for health information exchange are essential to building a successful  accountable care organization, according to a report released last week by the Commonwealth  Fund, EHR Intelligence reports (Murphy, EHR  Intelligence, 12/17).

Methodology

For the report, researchers analyzed 59 health systems of different sizes,  characteristics and locations.

To address a lack of data on readiness to implement ACOs, researchers  developed a “capabilities framework” tool that included components such as  population health data management (Manos, Healthcare IT News, 12/17).

Report Findings

According to the report, “[d]evelopment of underlying information technology  was found to be [an] element necessary for accountable care.”

It added, “This technology goes beyond electronic health records and health  information exchanges and enables the integration of disparate data, analysis of  data across a patient population, stratification of financial and clinical risk  in the population, and measurement of the impact of targeted interventions.”

The report found than an IT infrastructure “that can support data mining is  key, as monitoring a patient population’s health care quality, spending and  utilization is fundamental to operating an ACO effectively.”

According to the report, financial resources to invest in such an IT  infrastructure are essential (Hall, FierceHealthIT, 12/18).

The report added that since few organizations across the U.S. have achieved  advanced use of EHRs and health data exchange, it is too soon to predict where  the technology will reduce costs and improve care (EHR Intelligence,  12/17).

Source: iHealthBeat

Do EMR’s Lead to Higher Quality of Care?

Do EMR’s help in Better Medical Care ?

You are happy with your emr. It is easy to locate notes, enter and edit patient information and not wait for the trolley to come trundling along. But has it made your patients lives better ?

No matter how you slice it, you cannot get one single, convincing answer. As an increasing number of practices are joining the emr fray, this question and the answer to it, is more important than ever.

Comprehensive Progress notes, An Ancient Relic ?

Yes, documenting patient records has never been so easy. Or, so impersonal either. Straight out of a can templates have taken the place of long and informative patient progress notes. A physician going through the progress note in his emr is more likely to encounter highly edited and simplified information, which may not give him a clear picture of his patient’s progress.

Sigh, The Doctor is too busy…

A common complaint heard in the waiting room of doc’s offices is that patients are slowly becoming the least powerful factor in the equation. With cuts in reimbursement and constant changes in the healthcare landscape, it is a tough world to live in for physicians. And learning the ropes of a new system isn’t a walk in the park either. And in this entire din it is the voice of the patient that sadly goes unheard.

EMR’s do lead to Higher Quality of Care.

A recent study published in the The Journal of General Internal Medicine states that ehr use had led to significantly higher quality of care. It is one of the first extensive researches conducted on the usefulness of an emr in a clinical setting. And going by its results, despite its flaws electronic medical records billing services are here to stay. Physicians, who learn the ropes quickly enough and can work around the limitations of the system, can realize the endless possibilities it offers. Better patient care and easy access to records at all times, are just a few of them.

Source: Medical Billing Star

Allscripts Sues Hospital Group After Losing EHR Contract Bid to Rival

Electronic health record vendor Allscripts has filed a lawsuit alleging that the New York City Health and  Hospitals Corporation improperly awarded a contract worth about $303 million to  a rival EHR vendor — Epic Systems — which also is named as a defendant   in the lawsuit, Modern Healthcare reports (Barr, Modern  Healthcare, 12/14).

Allscripts filed the lawsuit last week in New York State Supreme Court in  Manhattan (Dolmetsch, Bloomberg, 12/13).

About the Contract Bids

In September, Allscripts lost a bid to replace HHC’s fragmented EHR system  with a new, integrated EHR system that would link 11 public hospitals, 70  clinics, thousands of physicians and more than one million patients. Allscripts’  proposal would have cost $299 million, according to HHC documents.

Instead, HHC awarded a $303 million contract to Epic. The HHC documents  characterized the price difference as minimal (iHealthBeat,  10/11).

In October, Allscripts filed a protest of the contract award. The filing  claimed that although the final bids differed by only $4 million, the total  ownership cost for Allscripts’ EHR system would be hundreds of millions of  dollars less (Goedert, Health Data Management, 12/14).

Details of the Lawsuit

In its lawsuit, Allscripts alleged that HHC’s selection of Epic was  “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and lacks a rational basis.”

According to Allscripts, its proposal would have saved HHC $535 million  compared with Epic’s proposal (Modern Healthcare, 12/14).

“HHC failed to follow evaluation criteria which required that award be based,  in part, on the comparative total cost of ownership of offerors,” the suit  alleged.

Response From HHC

HHC in a statement said, “Allscripts’ claim that it underbid Epic by more  than half a billion dollars is absurd and strikes us as an ill-fated attempt to  reassure investors and inflate its sagging stock price” (Bloomberg,  12/13).

The statement added, “Unfortunately, as our multi-year review has revealed,  Allscripts lacks a truly integrated [EHR] solution and has repeatedly lost  business to Epic and other vendors as a result. HHC will defend its  well-supported decision and prevail in this lawsuit.”

Epic declined to comment on the case, according to Health Data Management (Health Data Management, 12/14).

Source: iHealthBeat

Patients Value Control of Care, but Few Using PHRs, Survey Finds

Although 80% of consumers say that U.S. residents would benefit from having  more control of their health care, only 19% said they have a personal health  record, according to a survey by Wolters Kluwer Health, FierceHealthIT reports (Hall, FierceHealthIT, 12/13).

Survey Details

The survey — conducted in November — involved a nationally  representative sample of 1,000 U.S. consumers age 18 and older (Wolters Kluwer Health survey, Nov. 2012).

Survey Findings

According to the survey, 19% of consumers said that — discounting  doctors’ reputations — they would select a physician in a technologically  advanced office that allows for online appointment scheduling and emailing with  clinicians. The survey also found that:

• 86% of respondents agreed that they must be more proactive about their  health care to ensure better treatment; and
• 76% said that they have the information and tools required to manage their  health care decisions, such as choosing a health care provider and researching  treatment options (FierceHealthIT, 12/13).

Source: iHealthBeat

$2.7B in Medicaid Meaningful Use Pay Distributed in 2011

Eligible hospitals and health care professionals received a total of about  $2.7 billion in Medicaid meaningful use incentive payments last year, according to a report from the Government Accountability  Office, Politico‘s “Pulse” reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who  demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record systems can  qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

The report found that last year, about 39% of the hospitals and about 33% of  the health care professionals who were eligible for the Medicaid portion of the  meaningful use program in 2011 received incentive payments (Millman, “Pulse,” Politico, 12/14).

Findings About Hospitals

GAO found that 5,013 hospitals were eligible for the Medicaid portion of the  meaningful use program in 2011. Of those hospitals, 1,964 facilities received a  combined $1.7 billion in Medicaid EHR incentive payments last year.

The Medicaid incentive payments to hospitals ranged from $7,528 to $7.2  million, with a median payment of $613,512, according to the report.

Of the hospitals that received Medicaid incentive payments, the report found  that:

• 80% were acute care hospitals;
• 62% were located in urban areas;
• 57% were not members of a hospital chain;
• 57% were not-for-profit facilities; and
• The highest proportion — 46% — were located in the South, while the  smallest proportion — 15% — were located in the Northeast.

Findings About Eligible Professionals

The report found 139,600 health care professionals were eligible for the  Medicaid meaningful use incentive payments in 2011. Of those professionals,  45,962 received a combined $967 million in Medicaid EHR incentive payments last  year.

Of the professionals who received Medicaid incentive payments, the report  found that:

• 97% received the maximum payment of $21,250;
• 83% were located in urban areas;
• Nearly 75% were physicians, while 1% were physician assistants;
• 47% had signed agreements to receive technical assistance from a Regional  Extension Center; and
• The highest proportion — 37% — were located in the South and the smallest  proportion — 20% — were located in the Midwest (GAO report, 12/13).

Source: iHealthBeat

More Physicians Using Advanced EHR Systems, ONC Analysis Finds

More office-based physicians are using electronic health record systems that  have the higher-level functionality necessary to meet the meaningful use  program’s requirements, according to an analysis from the Office for the National  Coordinator for Health IT, Modern Healthcare reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who  demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR systems can qualify for Medicaid and  Medicare incentive payments.

For the analysis, three researchers from ONC’s Office of Economic Analysis,  Evaluation and Modeling examined data from the annual national EHR survey conducted by CDC’s National  Center for Health Statistics.

According to ONC’s analysis, 73% of surveyed physicians said that their EHR  system was capable of meeting the meaningful use program’s electronic  prescribing requirement. ONC researchers said the finding suggests an expansion  in EHR capabilities since 2009, when only one-third of surveyed physicians said  that their EHR system allowed for electronic prescribing.

The ONC analysis also noted that in 2012:

• 68% of surveyed physicians said that their EHR system could meet the  meaningful use program requirement on maintaining medication allergy lists;
• 56% said that their EHR system could meet the meaningful use program  requirement to provide patients with a copy of their clinical summary; and
• 50% said that their EHR system could meet the meaningful use program  requirement related to clinical-decision support functionality (Conn, Modern  Healthcare, 12/12).

The ONC researchers concluded that since the passage of the stimulus package,  more physicians have adopted EHR technology capable of meeting meaningful use  program requirements. They added that their analysis shows “important national  progress toward the goals of improving health and health care through the use of  advanced health information technology” (ONC analysis, December 2012).

Source: iHealthBeat

Mobile Phone Messages Could Help Smokers Quit Habit, Review Finds

Motivational text and video messages sent via mobile phone could help smokers  quit the habit, according to a new review published in the Cochrane  Library, Medical News Today reports (Medical News  Today, 11/15).

Study Details

For the study, researchers examined several studies that tracked a total  of 9,100 smokers over six months.

About half of the smokers received text or video messages on their mobile  phones daily for several weeks leading up to a predetermined quit date.  After the quit date, the group continued to receive multiple messages daily,  including:

• Tips on avoiding cravings;
• Resources for dealing with relapses; and
• Encouragement.

The other half of the smokers did not receive any mobile phone-based support  services.

Study Findings

Nine percent of smokers who received the mobile phone messages went without  cigarettes for at least six months, compared with 5% of smokers who did not  receive the messages, the study found.

Robyn Whittaker, lead study author, said that there is not enough evidence to  determine whether mobile phone-based smoking cessation programs are  cost-effective but added that a counselor likely would cost more (Grens, Reuters, 11/14).

HHS Unveils Smoking Cessation Website

In related news, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Thursday announced the launch of a tobacco cessation website called BeTobaccoFree.gov.

The site offers information on:

• Tobacco;
• Federal and state laws;
• Health statistics; and
• Evidence-based methods for quitting smoking (United Press International, 11/15).

Source: iHealthBeat

19% of Smartphone Users Have Health Apps, Pew Report Finds

About 19% of U.S. adult smartphone users have applications to help them  monitor or manage their health, according to a report from the Pew Internet & American  Life Project, MobiHealthNews reports (Dolan, MobiHealthNews,  11/8).

Report Details

The Pew Charitable Trusts and the California HealthCare Foundation helped fund the study. CHCF publishes iHealthBeat (Central Valley Business Times, 11/8).

For Pew’s Mobile Health 2012 report, researchers surveyed 3,014 U.S. adults,  45% of whom said they used a smartphone (Comstock, MobiHealthNews, 11/8).

Princeton Survey Research Associates International conducted the survey by  landline and mobile phone between Aug. 7 and Sept. 6. The results were weighted  to represent the demographics of the U.S. adult population (Central Valley  Business Times, 11/8)

Smartphone Health App Users

The report found that wellness and fitness apps were the most  popular among users of smartphone health apps. Among the 254 smartphone  health app users identified in the survey:

• 38% used apps to track exercise, fitness or their heart rate;
• 31% used apps to track diet or food; and
• 12% used apps to track their weight.

The report also looked at the use of health apps among certain groups of  smartphone users. It found that:

• 22% of smartphone users who are caregivers use health apps;
• 22% of smartphone users who have faced a medical crisis in the past year use  health apps; and
• 21% of smartphone users with chronic conditions use health apps.

Using Mobile Phones for Other Health-Related Purposes

The report also found that 31% of mobile phone owners have used their phones  to look up health information, up from 17% in Pew’s Mobile Health 2010 report.

According to the latest report, only 9% of the 2,581 mobile phone owners  surveyed used text messaging to obtain health information (Comstock, MobiHealthNews, 11/8).

Source: iHealthBeat