The CommonWell Health Alliance: Can The Private Sector Push Interoperability Over the Finish Line?

The HIMSS13 Conference in New Orleans, one of the biggest gatherings of Health Information Technology professionals of the year, was host to speakers, panel discussions, and one pretty large announcement from some of the big names in the industry.

Allscripts, , , Greenway, and McKesson have announced the founding of the CommonWell Health Alliance, a non-profit trade group designed to implement standards around some of the most difficult problems with interoperability between systems. CommonWell will focus on working to standardize three areas: patient matching, patient access consent, and record location. Once standards are set for these areas, they can be made public and licensed at a “reasonable cost”. The Alliance’s formation was inspired in part by a Bipartisan Coalition meeting, and especially a comment from National Coordinator for HIT Farzad Mostashari. The conversation was recalled by David McCallie, vice president of informatics at Cerner, in an interview with HealthcareITNews:

“…everyone was sort of complaining to Farzad: “You’ve got to go solve this identifier problem, it’s killing us.” And Farzad said, “Look, it’s against the law! I can’t do it. You guys have to solve it.” I came back and literally quoted that – “you guys have to solve it” – I sent an email to Arien and he said, “We think the same thing. Let’s talk about it.” And within a week, we knew this was what to do.” Interoperability is the principle that patient information that is shared between two different software packages should work seamlessly. Think about the interoperability of the Internet. A web page can be read on any brand of computer, any browser, and with any internet service provider. It just works. Interoperability between EHR software would look very similar. Anywhere a patient needs care, their records could be transferred and read electronically, without having to worry about the different software formats. It’s important to distinguish between interoperability, which allows different software packages to understand each other, and Health Information Exchange, which is simply a means of communication between locations and providers. To extend the analogy, a telephone can connect two people, but if they speak two different languages, you will need a translator between them.

The founders of the CHA have extended an open invitation for other vendors to join the alliance, but one big name was conspicuously absent from the list of participants: Madison, Wisconsin’s , who serves almost half of the US market. Epic founder and CEO Judith Faulkner was dismissive of the announcement:

“We did not know about it. We were not invited,” Faulkner said. “It appears on the surface to be used as a competitive weapon and that’s just wrong. It’s wrong for the country.”

Epic COO Carl Dvorak was even more to the point, calling CommonWell a “marketing opportunity.” Epic System made a collaborative announcement of their own during HIMSS, introducing the DRIVE program to test Epic software in virtualized environments with the help of Dell, Red Hat, Intel and VMWare. The program would be especially useful to facilities looking to bridge older, closed software installations, with more modern and open systems.

Whether or not CommonWell will be a net win for patients or just an opportunity for vendors to make up ground with Epic remains to be seen. Proponents argue that CHA is a step in the right direction for the industry to achieve real interoperability, even if the gains are only modest. The skeptical take, articulated very well by Adrian Grooper, MD at TheHealthcareBlog says there is no real difference between giants like Epic and coalitions like CommonWell.

“The shame is that another program with opaque governance by the largest incumbents in health IT is being passed off as progress. The missed opportunity is to answer the call for patient engagement and the frustrations of physicians with EHRs and reverse the institutional control over the physician-patient relationship. Physicians take an oath to put their patient’s interest above all others while in reality we are manipulated to participate in massive amounts of unwarranted care.”

So what do you think? Is CommonWell a good step for interoperability, or just another excuse for big software players to control the marketplace? Let us know in the comments!

Natural Language Processing, First Steps Towards Telehealth, and a Single App to Read any EHR in another edition of Manage My Practice’s 2.0 Tuesday!

As managers, providers and employees, we always have to be looking ahead at how the technology on our horizon will affect how our organizations administer health care. In the spirit of looking forward to the future, we present “2.0 Tuesday”, a feature on Manage My Practice about how technology is impacting our practices, and our patient and population outcomes.

We hope you enjoy looking ahead with us, and share your ideas, reactions and comments below!

Natural Language Processing Advances Allow for Improved Insight into Public Health

Writing for KevinMD, Jaan Sidorov, author of theDisease Management Care Blog highlights several examples of how Natural Language Processing- the idea of teaching computer programs to understand the relationship between words in human speech (teaching them to not just hear us, but understand us- like Watson understood the clues on Jeopardy) is being be applied to the Electronic Health Record to predict and prepare for public health trends, as well as to correct mistakes present in the electronic record due to human error. Recent developments like the CDC’s Biosense program allow public health officials at local, state and federal levels to monitor big picture trends in public health by the words and diagnoses reported in medical documentation- keeping an ear on health trends, by “listening” to data about reported health incidents. 10 Best Practices for Implementing Telemedicine in Hospitals

Sabrina Rodak at Becker Orthopedic, Spine and Pain Management has put together a fantastic list of the steps and assessments involved in implementing a telemedicine program in a hospital setting. Although written with Orthopods in mind, the questions that need to be answered, and the steps that need to be taken to develop a strong, lasting program are similar across many different programs and specialties. With so much excitement in the field, it is very nice to see someone talk about the process of taking these technologies from drawing board excitement to nuts-and-bolts execution.

(via FierceHealthIT)

San Diego Health System Seeks to Develop Single App to Access Any EMR

Presenting at a Toronto Mobile Healthcare Summit Last Week, Dr. Benjamin Kanter, CIO of Palomar Pomerado Health presented the two-hospital system’s plans to develop their own native mobile application to view as many different Electronic Medical Records as possible from a single mobile interface. In other words, this fairly small health system, who has only devoted three employees to the project, is taking on one of the biggest, and toughest challenges in HIT by simply saying “We can do it ourselves!”, and from some of the reactions from the conference attendees who saw the , they are off to quite a strong start. The first version of the program should launch for Android in March, and the system already has a deal in place with vendor Cerner to access their systems. Stay tuned! (via ITWorldCanada)

Be sure to check back soon for another 2.0 Tuesday!

Steve Jobs, Social Media and iPad enabled voting: Welcome to 2.0 Tuesday! A look at what’s next in technology and healthcare.

At Manage My Practice, we have always been fascinated by the opportunities created when innovation and technical advancements are applied to the Healthcare system. The intersection of technology and medical practice has always been one of the most exciting spaces in research and development because the challenges of the Human Body are some of the most daunting and emotionally charged of our endeavors. Curing diseases, diagnosing symptoms and improving and saving lives are among our most noble callings, so naturally they inspire some of our brightest thinkers and industry leaders.

As managers, providers and employees, we always have to be looking ahead at how the technology on our horizon will affect how our organizations administer health care. In the spirit of looking forward to the future, we present “2.0 Tuesday”, a weekly feature on Manage My Practice about how technology is impacting our practices, and our patient and group outcomes.

We hope you enjoy looking ahead with us, and share your ideas, reactions and comments below!

Steve Jobs thought iCloud had the potential to store Medical Data

Apple’s recently announced iCloud service let’s you store pictures, movies, music, and documents in Apple’s “cloud”, or Internet storage system, and retrieve them with your iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Mac computers. Dr. Iltifat Husain, writing for the IMedicalApps blog notes that in the new biography of the Apple founder, Jobs mentioned thathe thought even personal medical data would one day be stored in Apple’s iCloud. Cloud storage is all the rage right now in a lot of different areas of technology, but Jobs saying that medical data would be stored on the consumer end next to vacation photos and favorite songs represents a very bold vision of the future of patient data.

Researchers using Social Media to study attitudes about Public Health

A team led by Marcel Salathé, PhD at Pennsylvania State University published a study last month in PLoS Computational Biology that used “tweets” gathered from the social network Twitter to analyze how the public felt about the H1N1 influenza vaccine in 2009. Although Social Media research has limitations, Christine S. Moyer, writing for the American Medical Association’s Amednews.com notes that the results were similar to traditional phone surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, and provides some other examples of how Social Media has been used to understand public health trends.

Interesting EHR/EMR data from the Soliant Health Blog

Medical staffing specialist Soliant Health had very eye- opening list of statistics about EHR/EMR implementations on their blog last week. My personal favorite: Hospitals using EHR/EMR systems have a 3 to 4% lower mortality rate than those that don’t. Very interesting numbers.

HealthWorks Collective predicts changes in healthcare communications after ACA

Healthworks Collective‘s Susan Gosselin makes some predictions about how the communications between and among providers and patients are going to be changed by the Affordable Care Act (or Healthcare Reform)- and what both groups will demand from a changing system. Great stuff!

Oregon to help disabled voters cast ballots using iPads

In today’s local and congressional elections, five counties in the state of Oregon are going to be equipping local officials with iPads preloaded with special touch-interface software to accompany people with physical or visual impairments, or who would otherwise have a hard time making it to the polls. The 9 to 5 Mac blog is reporting that the pilot program features hardware donated by Apple, and could soon spread statewide by the next election.

Be sure to check back next week for another 2.0 Tuesday!

Eight Ways to Start a Performance Evaluation

Many managers find it difficult to begin performance evaluations in a way that puts the employee at ease and opens the door to dialogue.

Do you make small talk or start reading from whatever form you’re using?

Do you preface the actual evaluation by setting the mood giving visual or tonal clues that it’s going to be a good evaluation or a bad evaluation? Here are eight ways to start a performance evaluation and get things started on the right foot:

1. Review the agenda for the performance evaluation. This is especially important if you’re new to the organization and the employees are not sure what to expect. Tell the employee what information you’ll review and encourage them to ask questions so it’s an interactive evaluation, not just you telling them your thoughts. 2. Review the job description to see what changes, if any, need to be made based on duties added or removed during the year. 3. Review last year’s evaluation. Amazingly, many managers don’t look back at last year’s evaluation. How can improvement or goals be assessed if you’re not making a measurement between last year and this year? 4. Discuss big events at the group that impacted the staff. Providers coming or going. Installing EMR. The installation of other software. A move. Merging with other groups. Discuss it. 5. Discuss the employee’s significant events in the past year. A baby? A marriage? A divorce? A move? A Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave? A new position? Discuss it. 6. Review the self-evaluation if you’ve asked the employee to complete one, and I hope you have. Read the employee’s answers aloud and ask questions about what they meant. Here’s my favorite simple self-evaluation. 7. If the evaluation is related to a raise or bonus, start by telling them if you’re giving them a raise or a bonus. This is an unusual way to start an evaluation, but I’ve used it in the past if the employee is unable to relax and really participate in the evaluation because they’re so worried about the raise. By the way, it’s usually the really good employees who are worried – the so-so employees tend to expect the raise and don’t worry about it. Do not start an evaluation by telling an employee you are NOT giving them a raise or a bonus. 8. Review continuing education that the employee completed and ask what they learned and how they implemented what they learned.

All of these suggestions give the manager the opportunity to start the evaluation on a relaxed note and engage the employee in meaningful discussion.

Note: I am excited to announce a new book from Manage My Practice coming in July 2011: “The Smart Manager’s Guide to Mastering Performance Evaluations.” Stay tuned for more details.

Image provided by Wikipedia.

FAQ on HITECH, Meaningful Use, Eligible Providers, and the Stimulus Money

NOTE: Read my latest post on how to register and attest for the EHR Incentive Programs here.

Where Did the Idea of Meaningful Use of Electronic Medical Records Come From?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009. The Law includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act or the HITECH Act. The HITECH Act establishes programs under Medicare and Medicaid to provide incentive payments for the Meaningful Use of Certified Electronic Health Records technology.

The goal of the HITECH legislation is to improve healthcare outcomes, to facilitate access to care and to simplify care. It is believed that the installation of electronic health records in medical practices is only the beginning. The goals of HITECH will be met when the EHR is used in a meaningful way.

What is Meaningful Use (MU)?

There are three identified components of Stage I Meaningful Use. They are:

1. Use of a certified EHR in a meaningful manner such as e- prescribing. 2. Use of Certified EHR Technology for the exchange of health information (exchange data with other providers of care or business partners such labs or pharmacies) 3. Use of Certified EHR Technology to submit clinical quality and other measures.

The first stage of Meaningful Use is capturing and sharing the data. Meaningful Use Stage II is advanced clinical processes and Stage III is starting to look Meaningful Use of an EHR in the context of improved healthcare outcomes.

There are 25 specific criteria for MU Stage I listed in this article in Healthcare IT News:

[1] Objective: Use CPOE (Computerized Physician Order Entry) Measure: CPOE is used for at least 80 percent of all orders

[2] Objective: Implement drug-drug, drug-allergy, drug- formulary checks Measure: The EP (Eligible Provider) has enabled this functionality

[3] Objective: Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses based on ICD-9-CM or SNOMED CT® Measure: At least 80 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP have at least one entry or an indication of none recorded as structured data.

[4] Objective: Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically (eRx). Measure: At least 75 percent of all permissible prescriptions written by the EP are transmitted electronically using certified EHR technology.

[5] Objective: Maintain active medication list. Measure: At least 80 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP have at least one entry (or an indication of “none” if the patient is not currently prescribed any medication) recorded as structured data.

[6] Objective: Maintain active medication allergy list. Measure: At least 80 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP have at least one entry (or an indication of “none” if the patient has no medication allergies) recorded as structured data.

[7] Objective: Record demographics. Measure: At least 80 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital have demographics recorded as structured data

[8] Objective: Record and chart changes in vital signs. Measure: For at least 80 percent of all unique patients age 2 and over seen by the EP, record blood pressure and BMI; additionally, plot growth chart for children age 2 to 20.

[9] Objective: Record smoking status for patients 13 years old or older Measure: At least 80 percent of all unique patients 13 years old or older seen by the EP “smoking status” recorded

[10] Objective: Incorporate clinical lab-test results into EHR as structured data. Measure: At least 50 percent of all clinical lab tests results ordered by the EP or by an authorized provider of the eligible hospital during the EHR reporting period whose results are in either in a positive/negative or numerical format are incorporated in certified EHR technology as structured data.

[11] Objective: Generate lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research, and outreach. Measure: Generate at least one report listing patients of the EP with a specific condition.

[12] Objective: Report ambulatory quality measures to CMS or the States. Measure: For 2011, an EP would provide the aggregate numerator and denominator through attestation as discussed in section II.A.3 of this proposed rule. For 2012, an EP would electronically submit the measures are discussed in section II.A.3. of this proposed rule.

[13] Objective: Send reminders to patients per patient preference for preventive/ follow-up care Measure: Reminder sent to at least 50 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP that are 50 and over

[14] Objective: Implement five clinical decision support rules relevant to specialty or high clinical priority, including for diagnostic test ordering, along with the ability to track compliance with those rules Measure: Implement five clinical decision support rules relevant to the clinical quality metrics the EP is responsible for as described further in section II.A.3.

[15] Objective: Check insurance eligibility electronically from public and private payers Measure: Insurance eligibility checked electronically for at least 80 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP

[16] Objective: Submit claims electronically to public and private payers. Measure: At least 80 percent of all claims filed electronically by the EP.

[17] Objective: Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information (including diagnostic test results, problem list, medication lists, and allergies) upon request Measure: At least 80 percent of all patients who request an electronic copy of their health information are provided it within 48 hours.

[18] Objective: Provide patients with timely electronic access to their health information (including lab results, problem list, medication lists, allergies) Measure: At least 10 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP are provided timely electronic access to their health information

[19] Objective: Provide clinical summaries to patients for each office visit. Measure: Clinical summaries provided to patients for at least 80 percent of all office visits.

[20] Objective: Capability to exchange key clinical information (for example, problem list, medication list, allergies, and diagnostic test results), among providers of care and patient authorized entities electronically. Measure: Performed at least one test of certified EHR technology’s capacity to electronically exchange key clinical information.

[21] Objective: Perform medication reconciliation at relevant encounters and each transition of care. Measure: Perform medication reconciliation for at least 80 percent of relevant encounters and transitions of care.

[22] Objective: Provide summary care record for each transition of care and referral. Measure: Provide summary of care record for at least 80 percent of transitions of care and referrals.

[23] Objective: Capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries and actual submission where required and accepted. Measure: Performed at least one test of certified EHR technology’s capacity to submit electronic data to immunization registries.

[24] Objective: Capability to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies and actual transmission according to applicable law and practice. Measure: Performed at least one test of certified EHR technology’s capacity to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies (unless none of the public health agencies to which an EP or eligible hospital submits such information have the capacity to receive the information electronically).

[25] Objective: Protect electronic health information maintained using certified EHR technology through the implementation of appropriate technical capabilities. Measure: Conduct or review a security risk analysis in accordance with the requirements under 45 CFR 164.308 (a)(1) and implement security updates as necessary.

Have the Details of MU been finalized?

The comment period for the NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) for Meaningful Use is currently open but will close on March 15, 2010. You can read the NPRM here. Many individuals and organizations have expressed concern that the timeline for implementing EHR and meeting MU criteria is too short for the majority of providers. The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) recently sent a 7-page letter to acting CMS Administrator Charlene Frizzerathat included the following concerns:

1. The administrative burden of reporting computerized physician order entry measures “is excessive to the point of being unachievable for most eligible providers.” 2. The rule could require manually entering results from laboratories that don’t have an interoperable interface with the physician’s electronic health record. 3. The term “health information” is used throughout the proposed rule, but is never defined. 4. A requirement that a patient’s health information be shared with that patient within 48 hours doesn’t take in account that physicians or their staff may not be able to process the information if that 48-hour period includes weekend days. 5. There is no incentive for physicians who meet less than 100% of the proposed requirements, so it is an all-or- nothing approach.

The Medical Group Management Association recently surveyed (see Modern Healthcare story here) 445 physician practice administrators in February 2010 with the following feedback:

1. Nearly all are aware of the upcoming incentive programs for meaningful use of electronic health records, but fear the programs will reduce physician productivity. 2. 68% of respondents expect physician productivity will decrease if all 25 proposed meaningful use criteria are implemented. 3. Nearly one-third believe the decrease in productivity will be greater than 10 percent. 4. Almost 25% of practices without an EHR doubt some of their providers will ever attempt to qualify for incentives. 5. Among practices with an EHR, nearly 84 percent believe some of their physicians will attempt to qualify for Medicare or Medicaid incentives by the end of 2011.

How Do I Comment on the MU Standard? You can submit your comments on the NPRM on MU here.

You can read comments already submitted here.

How Do I Know if My EHR is Certified?

No EHRs have been certified for the CMS Incentive Program and the certifying bodies have not yet been announced. It seems reasonable that CCHIT will be one certifying body, but there are expected to be others. If your vendor tells you that his EHR is certified before the rule has been finalized and the certifying bodies have been announced, ask him “For what?”

What Does it Mean to Be Eligible? (description courtesy of Everything HITECH)

This term encompasses three general types of payers to establish eligibility: 1) Medicare Fee For Services (FFS), 2) Medicare Advantage (MA) and 3) Medicaid.

For hospitals to be eligible, they can be acute care (excluding long term care facilities), critical access hospitals, children’s hospitals.

For providers, these include non-hospital-based physicians who receive reimbursement through Medicare FFS program or a contractual relationship with a qualifying MA organization. The Act defines the term “hospital based” eligible professional to mean an EP such as a pathologist, anesthesiologist,or emergency physician, who furnishes substantially all of his or her Medicare covered professional services during the relevant EHR reporting period in a hospital setting (whether inpatient or outpatient) through the use of the facilities and equipment of the hospital, including the hospital’s qualified EHR’s (Fed Reg p. 1905). The determining factor is the site of service as to whether the service is hospital based or not. If the EP provides at least 90 % of their services in a hospital inpatient, hospital outpatient or hospital emergency room setting (Point of Service codes 21, 22, 23), then they are considered a hospital based EP and not eligible for EHR incentive payments (i.e. providing substantially all of his or her Medicare covered professional services).

There is a difference between Medicare and Medicaid when it comes to defining an eligible professional for EHR incentive payment purposes. Medicare defines an eligible professional as (Fed Reg p. 1996):

1. doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathy 2. doctor of dental surgery or dental medicine 3. doctor of podiatric medicine 4. doctor of optometry 5. chiropractor

Medicaid, on on the other hand, defines an eligible professional as (Fed Reg p. 2001):

1. physician 2. dentist 3. certified nurse-midwife 4. nurse practitioner 5. physician assistant practicing in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) or a Rural Health Clinic, led by a physician assistant.

What are the Guidelines for Providing Patients With Their Medical Records Electronically?

Under HIPAA, patients currently have the ability to access their medical records. Meaningful Use does not change HIPAA in that regard. You may charge patients for the expense related to providing paper or electronic medical records. Each state has its own schedule for charging for medical records (state-by-state schedule here.) Do Eligible Providers Have to be Participating With Medicare to Receive the Incentive Money?

No, the eligibility requirements only relate to the benchmarks for the percentage of Medicaid patients you have, or amount of allowed Medicare charges you have.

Can Eligible Providers Work at Locations Other Than Hospitals and Private Practices and Receive the Incentive Money?

The location where the provider works is not the issue. The issue is whether or not the provider meets the requirements, either for Medicare or Medicaid, to be considered eligible for the program.

It doesn’t matter where the provider accesses the certified EHR. If they meet the eligibility criteria, and they are using a certified EHR, they can collect on the stimulus money.

What Are Health Provider Shortage Areas?

Physicians practicing in determined “health provider shortage” (detailed info here) areas will be eligible for a 10% bonus payment.

How Does This Incentive Relate to ePrescribing or PQRI?

If the PQRI Program is extended in its current form, practices can participate in both PQRI and an EHR Incentive Plan.

If the EP chooses to participate in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, they cannot participate in the Medicare eRx Incentive Program simultaneously. If the EP chooses to participate in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, they can participate in the Medicare eRx Incentive Program simultaneously.

Also, e-prescribing penalties sunset after 2014, so that no physician will be subject to penalties for failing to both e- prescribe and use an EHR! How Do EPs Get Paid For Meaningful Use of a Certified EHR?

For the first payment year only, all an EP or hospital has to do is to be a “meaningful user” for a continuous 90-day period during the payment year. Hospitals’ payment year is October 1 to September 30 and EPs’ payment year is the calendar year. You must start and complete the 90-day period within the payment year with no overlapping.

Also, if you can qualify as a Medicaid Eligible Provider (or Hospital), are in the process of adopting, implementing or upgrading your EHR and your Medicaid patient volume is at least 30% (Pediatricians only need 20% minimum and Hospitals need 10% minimum), you can collect your incentive money without meeting Meaningful Use criteria.

Attestation forms and forms of other types are most likely the way that EPs will provide information to apply for the incentive funds, although the details have not yet been released.

What Does it Mean to Transition From One Program (Medicaid or Medicare) to Another?

EPs who meet the eligibility requirements for both the Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs will be able to participate in only one program, and will have to designate which one they would like to participate in. After their initial designation, EPs are allowed to change their program selection only once during payment years 2012 through 2014.

To Recap:

How Do I Get My EHR Stimulus Money?

1. Decide whether you are an eligible provider for any of the programs. 2. If you are, buy a certified EMR (once certification has been defined.) 3. Use your EMR in a way that demonstrates your meaningful use of the product. 4. Pass “GO” and collect your money.

ARRA (Stimulus Bill) Acronyms

”¢ A/I/U ”“Adopt, implement or upgrade ”¢ CAH ”“Critical Access Hospital ”¢ CCN ”“CMS Certification Number ”¢ CDS ”“Clinical Decision Support ”¢ CMS ”“Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ”¢ CY ”“Calendar Year ”¢ EHR ”“Electronic Health Record ”¢ EP ”“Eligible Professional ”¢ eRx ”“E-Prescribing ”¢ FFS ”“Fee-for-service ”¢ FY ”“Federal Fiscal Year ”¢ HHS ”“U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ”¢ HIT ”“Health Information Technology ”¢ HITECH Act ”“Health Information Technology for Electronic and Clinical Health Act ”¢ HITPC ”“Health Information Technology Policy Committee ”¢ HIPAA ”“Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ”¢ HPSA ”“Health Professional Shortage Area ”¢ IFR ”“Interim Final Rule ”¢ MA ”“Medicare Advantage ”¢ MCMP ”“Medicare Care Management Performance Demonstration ”¢ MITA-Medicaid Information Technology Architecture ”¢ MU ”“Meaningful Use ”¢ NPI ”“National Provider Identifier ”¢ NPRM ”“Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ”¢ OMB ”“Office of Management and Budget ”¢ ONC ”“Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology ”¢ PQRI ”“Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative ”¢ Recovery Act ”“American Reinvestment & Recovery Act of 2009 ”¢ TIN ”“Taxpayer Identification Number

For more information who is eligible and for how much, read my post “ARRA Eligible Providers: Who Is Eligible to Receive Stimulus Money and How Much is Available Per Provider?”

Misys, iMedica and a Cast of Thousands: Interesting Interview Worth the Read

HIStalk (an interesting healthcare IT blog written anonymously) has a great interview with Michael Nissenbaum, President and CEO of iMedica. Nissenbaum speaks about his 10 years in the field with Millbrook, GE and now iMedica, talks about Misys leasing the iMedica EHR product under the name MyWay, and gives an interesting rundown of some players in the ever-changing field of medical practice software.

I see a cycle that’s been in healthcare for years. Right now, it’s hospitals providing software to physicians under the Stark exemption. A year from now, when we have a new administration, God knows what the new rules are going to be. You and I both have seen it. We have seen centralization and de-centralization. – Michael Nissenbaum