Richard's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘meaningful use’

HIMSS 2011 in February

January 28th, 2011 |

Author: Richard Robbins

I will be attending the 2011 HIMSS national conference at the Orlando Conference Center in Florida in February.

There are approximately 20,000 people who attend this conference.
I am particularly looking forward to attending their sessions regarding HIPAA compliance issues and CCHIT and electronic health issues.

CCHIT is the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology. These are federal requirements for certification.

Therap is working towards 2011 certification. We have announced that a conference for December 2011 in Florida which will cover Therap and Meaningful Use and CCHIT issues.

Posted in HIMSS, Technology |

Tags: CCHIT, Florida, HIMSS, meaningful use, Therap Conference |

Comments Closed

Therap Regional Conference in Florida with National CCHIT and Meaningful Use

January 5th, 2011 |

Author: Richard Robbins

Therap will have a Therap Regional Conference in Kissimmee, FL on December 6-7, 2011. The conference will also be a Therap National Conference on CCHIT and Meaningful Use.

The conference will be at the Holiday Inn Main Gate East. If you book using the Therap group rate the hotel is $59 a night. I have been told this is one of the slowest travel weeks of the year, so airfares should hopefully also be low. There are shuttles (for a fee) from Orlando Airport.

More information on CCHIT and Meaningful Use will be provided during the year.

This conference will have special discussions on Florida and APD related issues.

As with all Therap conferences we urge you to look at the agenda (to be published later) to determine the right conference for you and your agency. This conference will have 3 or 4 simultaneous sessions. The Therap national provider administration conference next month in Fishkill will have between 10 and 15 simultaneous sessions. The Florida conference will have more limited user presentations and discussions regarding the applications.

There will be a specific to be announced agenda on topics related to Therap’s applications and CCHIT and Meaningful use.

Posted in Uncategorized |

Tags: CCHIT, Florida, meaningful use, Therap Conference |

Comments Closed

Final Meaningful Use Rules from HHS and ONC

July 16th, 2010 |

Author: Richard Robbins

A common question we get at conferences and discussions is whether developmental disability providers qualify for the bonuses from meaningful use.

The Office of the National Coordinator just published their final meaningful use rules. You can link to a copy of the 800+ page document here.

Their website states

How HHS and ONC Can Help

Through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is providing incentive payments to eligible health care professionals and hospitals who adopt certified EHR technology and achieve meaningful use.

Through Standards and Certification efforts, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is offering guidance on standards to support interoperability of health information and the required capabilities and related standards and implementation specifications that certified EHR technology will need to include to, at a minimum, support the achievement of meaningful use and qualify for payments under the CMS EHR incentive programs.

Through the Regional Extension Center Program, ONC is offering technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of certified EHR technology.

Through the State Health Information Exchange Program and Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) activities, ONC is providing tools, funding and support for building health information exchange capacity.

Through the Beacon Communities Program, ONC is identifying and sharing best practices for using electronic health records to achieve improvements in health and health care.

My understanding is that at present the incentives and bonuses are geared to hospitals, doctors and health information exchanges.

I have talked with many people, including staff from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Techology, at conferences such as HIMSS. My understanding is that there are no bonuses or payments based on nurses. So providers of service to people with developmental disability who employ many nurses and have individuals with significant medical issues would not be eligible for any of these incentives.

We are looking through the guidelines and having discussions on how agencies which employ doctors directly could be eligible.

We are also working and speaking with organizations such as health information exchanges and hospitals to see how data on Therap can be available at appropriate times (such as emergency rooms at hospitals or visits to new doctors).

Posted in health information exchange, national Coordinator of Health Information Technology, Uncategorized |

Tags: health information exchange, HIMSS, meaningful use, office of the national coordinator |

Comments Closed

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Mar
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31