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 Quarterly Newsletter Q3, 2010 |
Dear Valued MedNetwoRx Customer,
Welcome to the MedNetwoRx 2010 3rd quarter newsletter. This Month we have information on Healthcare Stimulus and Meaningful use, ePrescribe, and more on the Red Flag Rules. We hope you enjoy the information and if you have any suggestions please e-mail the newsletter editor Leo MacWilliam at leo.macwilliam@mednetworx.com.
-MedNetwoRx
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CMS: Meaningful Use
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On July 13, 2010, the much anticipated Meaningful Use regulations were published by CMS. Health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs will qualify for incentive payments through Medicaid and Medicare. We are encouraged that the final rule maintains a balance between technology and policy that is attainable and realistic. There are some key changes in this final rule.
· In the original Meaningful Use criteria, it was determined there would be 25 criteria that would have to be met. While they kept the 25 items, they identified a set of 15 Core required criteria that are required for all Eligible Professionals (14 for Hospitals) and 10 in a Menu Set offering discretionary criteria from which eligible providers can choose 5.
· The final rule also gives more credit for partial fulfillment of the objectives. For example, such as one of the core objectives requires eligible providers to transmit 40% of prescriptions electronically where the original objective required 75% electronic prescribing rate.
· There is a reduction in number of clinical quality measure, reduced to 44. There will be 3 core measures required of everyone and 3 additional optional measures
· CMS recognized that some metrics were irrelevant and made the following changes for the final ruling:
o Thresholds are generally lower
o Removal of revenue cycle management metrics (electronic claims, electronic eligibility)
o Added metrics related to patient education and advance directives
There will be three stages to Meaningful Use adoption. Stage 1 is to begin 1/1/2011. With Stage 2 beginning in 1/1/2012. During the first stage, meaningful use is by attestation. Clinicians will begin a 90 day process of using a certified record and can attest to this use beginning in April 2011. Medicare payments for the Eligible Providers will begin the next month in May 2011. Stage 2 will require some attestation but will include electronic reporting metrics. Under the Medicaid plan, this will be state to state and will begin payments in summer of 2011. Stage 3 will introduce additional requirements that will be more demanding to meet. Registration for the EHR Incentive program is required. This registration will begin in January 2011 for eligible ambulatory providers and hospitals CMS will manage the registration for both the Medicaid and Medicare incentive programs from one virtual location.
To download the final rule (.pdf)
Mednetworx is committed to providing quality EHRs that will help the provider in the quest of meaningful use. We encourage you to join the many presentations that the vendors are putting on regarding this subject. Please keep in mind that while they are used as a sales tool, they can still be a great source of information for your practice.
Allscripts Meaningful Use In Depth webcasts: Monday, July 26, 2010 at 12:00pm EST (11:00am CST) & Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 1:00pm EST (12:00pm CST)
GE Meaningful Use Regulations: Tuesday, July, 27, 2010 at 3:00pm EST (2:00pm CST)
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FCC: Rural HealthCare Internet Boost | |
While many healthcare providers are focusing on demonstrating meaningful use of health IT, a large segment of providers in rural areas are unable to do so because reliable broadband Internet pipes are not currently available to them.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved a $400 million  program to expand broadband access to rural communities so healthcare providers in these areas have the connectivity required to use electronic health records (EHRs), telemedicine and other health IT.
The FCC program comes on the heels of the Health and Human Services Department release of final rules that describe what providers must do to show meaningful use of EHRs in order to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments.
The FCC will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking next month in the Federal Register to establish details of the rural broadband program and to modify the agency's Universal Service Fund for telecommunications services. The public will be able to comment on the proposal. In a statement on July 15, Julius Genachowski, FCC chairman, said, "Currently, too many clinics and hospitals lack affordable access to even basic broadband connectivity to handle the most basic of tele-health tasks, like managing medical records, transmitting an x-ray or MRI, or consulting remotely with a doctor." The program is a critical piece of the National Broadband Plan, which the FCC unveiled in March. He went on to say, "This program has the potential to do for rural healthcare providers and patients what the enormously successful E-Rate program has done for schools and students," referring to the FCC program that funded Internet access for schools.  Under the proposed rural broadband program, the FCC will partner with public and nonprofit healthcare providers to invest in new regional and statewide broadband networks in regions where it is unavailable or insufficient. The agency will share one half of the monthly recurring network costs with hospitals, clinics and other providers. FCC will also deliver connectivity to other healthcare facilities, such as nursing homes and renal dialysis centers, along with administrative offices and data centers that perform support functions for healthcare networks. To learn more, please visit: http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=74270
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New Timely Filing Rule for Medicare Claims!! |
Claims with dates of service beginning October 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009,  and received after December 31, 2010 will be denied as being past the timely filing deadline.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued instructions requiring providers to submit Medicare fee-for-service claims within one calendar year from the date of service. This requirement reduces the amount of time providers previously had to submit claims, and claims submitted more than one year after the date of service will be denied by Medicare. The requirement impacts all claims with dates of service on or after Jan. 1, 2010. Additionally, any claims for services furnished prior to Jan. 1, 2010, must be submitted to Medicare contractors by Dec. 31, 2010. The new, timely filing requirement is mandated in Sec. 6404 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
For more details regarding this new rule go to: http://www.cms.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM6960.pdf |
E-Prescriptions for Controlled Substances |
On March 31, 2010 the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) published the Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances Interim Final Rule (IFR). Its purpose is to establish rules for the electronic submission of controlled  substances. This measure is a significant and positive step for healthcare.
This effore defines stringent security requirements that focus on the key areas of identity proofing, access control, two-factor authentication, and audit requirements. The IFR gives prescribers the option of signing and transmitting prescriptions for controlled substances electronically. Written, manually signed, and oral prescriptions for controlled substances, where applicable, are still permitted.
This is an important milestone and has started an industry-wide process of technical advance. New layers of infrastructure will be developed at the local, state and national levels to enable the industry to create a system that meets the DEA's new security requirements. Given the complexity of implementing these changes, it remains unclear precisely when the industry will be ready to enable providers to electronically prescribe controlled substances. In the meantime, Providers should continue to electronically create and print controlled substance prescriptions as they currently do.
Vendors are working diligently with industry partners and stakeholders to deliver this new capability as quickly as possible. MedNetwoRx will continue to keep you updated as the changes take place.
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Windows 2000 End of Life | |
With the addition of Windows 7, su  pport for older Microsoft products has been dwindling. Microsoft itself announced the official End of Life period for Windows 2000 on March 31, 2004. As we have continued to support the operating system several years past its official life cycle we have found it to be increasingly incompatible with our systems. We continue to grow and update our systems in order to bring you the latest and best security, adaptability, and functionality. Consequently, these legacy computers grow ever more burdensome to our network and your employee's functionality. Recently your practice administrators and other key personnel should have received an email that included information on upgrading as well as an offer of a quote for replacement machines. We have included the wording of the replacement offer below. If you have any questions about the status of your quote, or wish to have a new quote made for the replacement of a Windows 2000 based computer, please contact our Technical Support line @ 866.619.4357. In order to facilitate a positive change in the performance of our network and the productivity of your employees we have engineered 2 options in regards to these computers: 1. Upgrade the Operating System to Windows XP. The following minimum system configuration is required to run this operating system:
PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed; 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher; 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space*
2. Purchasing a new computer:
As the specifications for new machines may vary widely we ask that you please contact our Technical Support department and request a case be sent to our Sales department.
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After several delays the Red Flag Rule compliance is delayed again at least until 12/31/2010. The Red Flag Rule is designed to guard consumers against identity theft and carries a compliance program that is similar to the HIPAA Compliance Rules. This delay follows an agreement with the FTC  and Physician groups to delay until an appeals court rules on a lawsuit filed last year by the American Bar Association on the FTC. Following that suit, The American Medical Association, American Osteopathic Association and Medical Society for the District of Columbia filed suit against the FTC on May 21.
This decision will allow congress to decide on the scope of entities that will be covered by this ruling. The scope of this would exempt health care practices with 20 or fewer employees, as well as accounting and legal practices of similar size. Covered health care professionals under the bill include physicians, dentists, podiatrists, chiropractors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, marriage or family therapists, optometrists, speech therapists, language therapists, hearing therapists and veterinarians.
For the full article by the Federal Trade Commission, visit http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/05/redflags.shtm or to gather more information on preparing for compliance of the Red Flag Rule, you can visit the Federal Trade Commission website: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/articles/art11.shtm.
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TechTip: Adding a Printer in Windows XP and 7 | |
Recently on the MedNetwoRx Techincal Support line, we have noticed a trend in printer installations. With this in mind we have prepared a rather comprehensive TechTips article.
In previous DIY articles like these we have described the item at length directly in the article itself. We feel that this approach is impractical and instead have decided to give you a comprehensive set of instructions. This set of instructions should be detailed enough to guide you through a network installation of printers on your computer.
If you have any questions about the process described in these instructions, please contact our helpful Support agents @ 866.619.4357.
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CCHIT to Become an Authorized Certification Group |
According to an article on healthdatamanagement.com, the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, has submitted to federal officials its application to become an Authorized Testing and Certification Body under the temporary electronic health records certification program. The artic  le cites Alisa Ray, executive director of CCHIT to say [They] "expect to be one of the first entities authorized to provide certification that specific versions of EHRs support Stage 1 meaningful use criteria."
Hoping to be among the first as well is the Drummond Group Inc., Austin, Texas. Still completing work on its application to become a certifier, they expects to submit it within a week, according to the article. The company  operates a test laboratory offering interoperability/conformance testing and certification services in multiple industries.
To learn more please vist the following links:
cchit.org |
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HIPAA Changes |
In 2003, we were all introduced to the HIPAA Privacy Rule that changed many ways that we do business. With the recent enactment of the ARRA/ HITECH Legislation, we are seeing additional changes coming for HIPAA. Though many of the changes won't come into effect immediately, it is important to update your plan now. A select few of the new rules and penalties are listed below:
· Breach Notification to Customers which includes notifying consumers if "unsecured" PHI was accessed, acquired, or disclosed in breach.
· Business Associates must comply with HIPAA Security Rule which now subjects them to the same civil and criminal penalties as the CEs.
· New Right to Obtain Copies of Electronic Health Records -when a CE uses an EHR, individual has Right to an electronic copy of their records
· Expanded Right to Privacy Restrictions
· No Selling of PHI
· New Restrictions on Marketing & Fundraising
To review the full article and details regarding these changes, you can go to this link: http://www.hipaastore.com/page.html?id=5
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HealthCare Heroes Update: Arsenal Upgrade |
A follow-up to the Health Care Heroes article found in our archive here.
In our coverage of the Fighters of Fraud we once again, return to South Florida, which has been dubbed "the epicenter of Medicare fraud" by several news groups. The special task force in Florida has received some new high-tech weapons to add to their arsenal. According to a Health & Human Services release, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit  will start a datamining process of the Medicaid Management Information System to identify cases of potential Medicaid fraud.
The datamining "will allow Florida's fraud unit to sort electronic claims through the use of statistical models and intelligent technologies to uncover patterns and relationships." The patterns that they may uncover, could potentially lead them to more cases like the recent paperwork problems discovered with Dr. L. Guerrero's practice.
The records for Dr. Luis Francisco Guerrero showed a pattern of unbelievably high patient rate. According to bizjournals.com, "In six months, he was listed as the active physician on 2,923 Medicare claims, an average of 16 every day, seven days a week." The article goes on to say that it is likely that Dr. Guerrero was never even aware of these false patients. Investigators assigned to this case found that, as is the norm with most of these fraud investigations, the doctor's government billing information was captured  and utilized by what is being called a "bill mill", or a fake satellite clinic that impersonates the doctor's practice.
Patrick Burns, spokesman for Washington, D.C.-based Taxpayers Against Fraud said "These fly-by-night clinics may end up making millions of dollars for themselves. They just need to print out a letterhead and get a physician's [government billing] number and starting billing. By the time Medicare figures out you're billing for services no one showed up for, you've already got your money and wired it to a bank in the Cayman Islands."
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expects the fraud unit to work closely with Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration to ensure their collective efforts are effective.
Please click on the Links to read more:
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As always wishing people happiness and an upswing to whatever music your life happens to be playing for you.
Sincerely,
MedNetwoRx |
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