With a vision for change, and an advocacy for healthcare, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This authorizes more than 19 billion dollars for Healthcare Information Technology. As this sets the stage for much needed incentives for healthcare organizations to shift gears to adopt Electronic Healthcare Records, it has also received a significant amount of skepticism from many physicians.
As part of this stimulus plan, there are four requirements that medical offices need to be aware of if they want to receive any funds for their EHR: Certified EHR, Information Exchange, Meaningful Use, and Reporting on Clinical Quality Measures.
Certified EHR: It is believed that the CCHIT will be the certification method of choice. In a recent announcement made by CCHIT Chair, Mark Leavitt, there will be three paths to certification for vendors and health organizations. Applications will adhere to one of the following: EHR Comprehensive EHR-C, Certified EHR Module EHR-M, or Certified Site EHR-S. These certifications vary in requirements. For example, to become EHR-M or EHR-S certified, your system will be required to have patient-physician PHR communication capabilities as well as an ability to exchange data with a certified HIE (Health Information Exchange).
Information Exchange: It is important to note that there has been a significant emphasis on data exchange in the certification process. The purpose is to reduce healthcare costs and medical errors by promoting care coordination. This means that if a patient has had services provided for them and would like this data shared across a community based HIE or National HIE, this information would be available to other participating health organizations with the appropriate access. This includes SSA, CMS and other federal or state entities.
Meaningful Use: Recently a document has been released regarding some outlines of the “Meaningful Use Matrix” from the HIT Policy Committee. Everyone is still waiting for the final definition of “Meaningful Use”. One thing to keep in mind regardless of the details of this requirement is that physicians may need to make adjustments on how data is reported as well as recorded.
Reporting on Clinical Quality Measures: It is stated that the eligible professional must be able to submit clinical data in a form and manner specified by the Secretary, on such clinical quality measures and such other measures as selected by the secretary.
Physicians and other health organizations must thoroughly examine the ARRA in great detail, and the changing environments surrounding them. Many have successfully adopted electronic prescription, computerized physician order entry CPOE, patients using online PHR and all the possible potential adjustments surrounding the insurance reform. Taking the right steps forward will require careful planning and assessment. Creating the right strategy for your healthcare information technology will position your organization to receive funds for your EHR. However, one has to be aware of the fact that getting any money from the government may prove to be a considerable effort!
If you enjoyed this article, make sure you subscribe to the Healthcare IT Insider RSS feed!
Discussion
No comments for “ARRA”