EHR Incentive Program Krishi

The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs provide incentive payments to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) as they adopt, implement, upgrade or demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology.

What is an EHR? An electronic health record (EHR)—sometimes called an electronic medical record (EMR)—allows healthcare providers to record patient information electronically instead of using paper records. However, EHRs are often capable of doing much more than just recording information. The EHR Incentive Program asks providers to use the capabilities of their EHRs to achieve benchmarks that can lead to improved patient care. The EHR Incentive Program is NOT a reimbursement program for purchasing or replacing an EHR. Providers have to meet specific requirements in order to receive incentive payments.

What Are Electronic Health Records (EHRs)? EHRs are, at their simplest, digital (computerized) versions of patients' paper charts. But EHRs, when fully up and running, are so much more than that.so much more EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records. They make information available instantly, "whenever and wherever it is needed". And they bring together in one place everything about a patient's health. EHRs can: Contain information about a patient's medical history, diagnoses, medications, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images, and lab and test results Offer access to evidence-based tools that providers can use in making decisions about a patient's care Automate and streamline providers' workflow Increase organization and accuracy of patient information Support key market changes in payer requirements and consumer expectations One of the key features of an EHR is that it can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized providers and staff across more than one health care organization. A single EHR can bring together information from current and past doctors, emergency facilities, school and workplace clinics, pharmacies, laboratories, and medical imaging facilities.

Electronic Health Record Incentives As America moves toward broad adoption of health, Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs can help providers with the transition. Incentive payments include: Up to $44,000 for eligible professionals in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program Up to $63,000 for eligible professionals in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program A base payment of $2 million for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals, depending on certain criteria

What is Meaningful Use? As you get involved with electronic health records, one of the things you'll hear about is the concept of "meaningful use"—part of the standards and criteria developed in the health field to encourage a smooth, productive transition to EHRs. "Meaningful use" refers to the use of certified EHR technologies by health care providers in ways that measurably improve health care quality and efficiency. The ultimate goal is to bring about health care that is:certified EHR Patient-centered Evidence-based Prevention-oriented Efficient Equitable

What is HIE? Electronic health information exchange (HIE) allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other health care providers and patients to appropriately access and securely share a patient’s vital medical information electronically—improving the speed, quality, safety and cost of patient care. Despite the widespread availability of secure electronic data transfer, most Americans’ medical information is stored on paper— in filing cabinets at various medical offices, or in boxes and folders in patients’ homes. When that medical information is shared between providers, it happens by mail, fax or—most likely—by patients themselves, who frequently carry their records from appointment to appointment. While electronic health information exchange cannot replace provider-patient communication, it can greatly improve the completeness of patient’s records, (which can have a big effect on care), as past history, current medications and other information is jointly reviewed during visits.

Meaningful Use Defined Meaningful use is using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to: Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities Engage patients and family Improve care coordination, and population and public health Maintain privacy and security of patient health information Ultimately, it is hoped that the meaningful use compliance will result in: Better clinical outcomes Improved population health outcomes Increased transparency and efficiency Empowered individuals More robust research data on health systems Meaningful use sets specific objectives that eligible professionals (EPs) and hospitals must achieve to qualify for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Incentive Programs.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Incentive Programs

Appropriate, timely sharing of vital patient information can better inform decision making at the point of care and allow providers to Avoid readmissions Avoid medication errors Improve diagnoses Decrease duplicate testing

There are currently three key forms of health information exchange: Directed Exchange – ability to send and receive secure information electronically between care providers to support coordinated care Directed Exchange Query-based Exchange – ability for providers to find and/or request information on a patient from other providers, often used for unplanned care Query-based Exchange Consumer Mediated Exchange – ability for patients to aggregate and control the use of their health information among providers Consumer Mediated Exchange The foundation of standards, policies and technology required to initiate all three forms of health information exchange are complete, tested, and available today

DIRECTED EXCHANGE Directed exchange is used by providers to easily and securely send patient information—such as laboratory orders and results, patient referrals, or discharge summaries—directly to another health care professional. This information is sent over the internet in an encrypted, secure, and reliable way amongst health care professionals who already know and trust each other, and is commonly compared to sending a secured . This form of information exchange enables coordinated care, benefitting both providers and patients. For example: A primary care provider can directly send electronic care summaries that include medications, problems, and lab results to a specialist when referring their patients. This information helps to inform the visit and prevents the duplication of tests, redundant collection of information from the patient, wasted visits, and medication errors. Directed exchange is also being used for sending immunization data to public health organizations or to report quality measures to The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

QUERY-BASED EXCHANGE Query-based exchange is used by providers to search and discover accessible clinical sources on a patient. This type of exchange is often used when delivering unplanned care. For example: Emergency room physicians who can utilize query-based exchange to access patient information—such as medications, recent radiology images, and problem lists—might adjust treatment plans to avoid adverse medication reactions or duplicative testing. If a pregnant patient goes to the hospital, query-based exchange can assist a provider in obtaining her pregnancy care record, allowing them to make safer decisions about the care of the patient and her unborn baby.

CONSUMER-MEDIATED EXCHANGE Consumer-mediated exchange provides patients with access to their health information, allowing them to manage their health care online in a similar fashion to how they might manage their finances through online banking. When in control of their own health information, patients can actively participate in their care coordination by: Providing other providers with their health information Identifying and correcting wrong or missing health information Identifying and correcting incorrect billing information Tracking and monitoring their own health 1 1