Posts Tagged ‘EHR’
admin on August 31st, 2010
Key step in national initiative toward adoption of electronic health records
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), Chicago, Ill. and the Drummond Group Inc. (DGI), Austin, Texas, were named today by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as the first technology review bodies that have been authorized to test and certify electronic health record (EHR) systems for compliance with the standards and certification criteria that were issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year.
Announcement of these ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs) means that EHR vendors can now begin to have their products certified as meeting criteria to support meaningful use, a key step in the national initiative to encourage adoption and effective use of EHRs by America’s health care providers.
“Less than two months following the issuance of final meaningful use rules, we have approved our initial ONC-ATCB certifiers. EHR vendors can begin immediately to get their products certified.” said David Blumenthal, M.D., national coordinator for Health Information Technology. This is a crucial step because it ensures that certified EHR products will be available to support the achievement of the required meaningful use objectives, that these products will be aligned with one another on key standards, and that doctors and hospitals can invest with confidence in these certified systems.”
Applications for additional ONC-ATCBs are also under review.
Certification of EHRs is part of a broad initiative undertaken by Congress and President Obama under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. HITECH created new incentive payment programs to help health providers as they transition from paper-based medical records to EHRs. Incentive payments totaling as much as $27 billion may be made under the program. Individual physicians and other eligible professionals can receive up to $44,000 through Medicare and almost $64,000 through Medicaid. Hospitals can receive millions.
To qualify for the incentive payments, providers must not only adopt, but also demonstrate meaningful use of, certified EHR systems. The law envisions that defined meaningful use requirements will help ensure that the patient and provider benefits of EHRs are realized. Initial meaningful use criteria were defined in a final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 28.
In addition to the CMS rule, ONC also issued standards and certification criteria for EHRs on July 28, aimed at ensuring that EHR systems will support the specific tasks required under meaningful use. Also, through regulations issued on June 24, ONC created a system by which technology review organizations could also qualify as ONC- ATCBs that will certify EHR products as meeting the requirements necessary for meaningful use.
With the initial two ONC-ATCBs now named, EHR vendors can apply to them for certification of their products. By purchasing certified products, providers will have assurance that the products will support achievement of the meaningful use objectives.
“Multiple steps are underway to carry out the intent of Congress in supporting rapid and effective adoption of EHRs throughout our health care system,” Dr. Blumenthal said. “The naming of initial ONC-ATCBs is one important step. Actual certification of multiple vendors’ systems by the ONC-ATCBs is an important next step. CMS is also working to create an online system for providers to register and attest for the EHR incentive programs. The first incentive payments are targeted to be made in May 2011. Meanwhile, ONC is also carrying out new programs of technical assistance and training, especially for smaller hospitals and physician practices.”
Dr. Blumenthal said the Health IT initiative “is on an aggressive schedule to meet the urgent targets set by Congress and the President toward realizing the quality and safety improvements that we can achieve through health information technology.”
To learn more about the ONC-ATCBs named today visit www.cchit.org and www.drummondgroup.com.
For more information about the ONC certification programs visit http://healthit.hhs.gov/certification.
For more information about other HHS Recovery Act Health Information Technology funding and programs, visit http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/index.html#Health.
This news is published on : http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/08/20100830d.html
admin on July 16th, 2009
The proven ability for medical transcription to facilitate accurate, cost-effective EHR adoption will be the key message brought by the members of the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) to federal legislators on Capitol Hill when the associations convene in Washington, DC, for their annual Advocacy Summit. With the HITECH Act, the Obama Administration’s high priority on nationwide EHR adoption has opened an opportunity for the transcription sector to educate the current Administration and Congress about the need for contemplative, prudent migration to the EHR – one that preserves the role of complex narrative and engages human intelligence in ensuring the accurate, secure capture of patient healthcare encounters.
The Advocacy Summit, being held June 3-4, 2009, in Washington, DC, will focus on the need for standards and regulations in EHR technology integration/adoption, the role of transcription in safeguarding protected health information (PHI), and the need for workforce development funding in healthcare documentation to ensure a knowledgeable, prepared next gen workforce that is capable of functioning in the quality assurance role the EHR will demand.
“Healthcare can ill afford a knee-jerk reaction to the EHR requirements of the HITECH Act,” states Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE, AHDI/MTIA chief executive officer. “Successful EHR adoption and meaningful interoperability hinge on healthcare’s ability to set standards that promote efficient, cost-effective, quality-driven data capture solutions. The transcription sector is uniquely positioned to offer healthcare delivery the means to make that happen, and that’s what we’ll be sharing with this new Administration and the new Congress.”
The associations will take to the Hill their Transcription: Proven Accelerator to EHR Adoption whitepaper, which includes compelling statistics that demonstrate (a) the loss of income to physicians who integrate EMR/EHR technologies ineffectively, (b) the critical role of transcription technology solutions in facilitating better EHR adoption, (c) the value of solutions that create “rich, interrelated narratives” rather than cookie-cutter records, and (d) the irreplaceable role of a knowledge worker in data integrity management
Above article published on http://www.chiroeco.com/chiropractic/news/8027/865/Association-readies-for-EHR-advocacy-summit/
admin on June 19th, 2009
AHDI and MTIA bring their message to Capitol Hill.
The transcription sector took a solution-focused message to Capitol Hill June 3-4 in response to President Obama’s provisions and mandate for EHR adoption under the recent HITECH Act. With this administration’s push to have both a definition and criteria for “meaningful use” determined by July of this year, the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) and the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) believe there is a critically narrow window of opportunity for this sector to ensure that such criteria includes provisions for the evolving role of transcription in hybrid capture, where complex narrative is preserved and quality outcomes, not just fiscal savings, drive adoption and integration. The HIT vendor community is positioning itself around key decision-makers in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in whose hands the determination of “meaningful use” now resides. Inarguably, the primary interest of those vendors is in securing widespread EHR adoption through HITECH provisions, and our message to legislators was that HHS needs others at the decision-making table whose interest is geared more toward how these technologies will be deployed and not whether they will be deployed.
Defining “meaningful use” is not the role of HIT but rather of clinicians and experts in health care documentation who can speak to the document workflow process and the complexities of capturing health stories in a way that informs clinical decision-making and promotes coordination of care. If the “meaningful use” definition is shaped only by the vendor community, there is great risk for EHR deployment to fall short of health care’s goals for capturing and consuming health information. All stakeholders, most importantly the patient, lose under such an imprudent integration approach.
More than 120 legislative appointments were held during the 2-day summit through collaborative dialogue from both MTIA business owners and AHDI health care documentation workers who met together with Senate and House members to share the importance of our quality-focused sector in accurately capturing patient health stories. We visited with legislators from 26 states and delivered letters from AHDI members to their respective legislators for 28 states. Each person had an opportunity to share the key talking points and messages prepared for the event, as well as to engage in dialogue with legislators and their aides about the role transcription can and does play in accurate capture. Likewise, we stressed the need to preserve complex narrative in the EHR so that the important nuances of a patient’s story are captured outside of restrictive point-and-click templates. Consideration must be given, as well, to the impact on clinicians who are inefficiently deployed to capture health care encounters rather than engaging in provision of care. And we talked about the value of a knowledge worker positioned in partnership with physicians to ensure the accurate, secure capture and repurposing of health information.
MTIA and AHDI will be engaging the services of a lobbying firm to push this message to the right people on the HELP committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) as well as those in HHS who will ultimately be responsible for the “meaningful use” definition. In addition, through our lobbying firm, we will continue to drive this message and our recommendations to David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health IT, so that the role of transcription is not left out of EHR integration standards, recommendations and regulations. Both medical transcription service organizations (MTSOs) and MTs will have an opportunity to contribute to and participate in this advocacy effort.
Above article published on
http://health-information.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=201256
admin on June 2nd, 2009
WASHINGTON – (Business Wire) The proven ability for medical transcription to facilitate accurate, cost-effective EHR adoption will be the key message brought by the members of the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) to federal legislators on Capitol Hill when the associations convene in Washington, DC, for their annual Advocacy Summit. With the HITECH Act, the Obama Administration’s high priority on nationwide EHR adoption has opened an opportunity for the transcription sector to educate the current Administration and Congress about the need for contemplative, prudent migration to the EHR – one that preserves the role of complex narrative and engages human intelligence in ensuring the accurate, secure capture of patient healthcare encounters.
The Advocacy Summit, being held June 3-4, 2009, in Washington, DC, will focus on the need for standards and regulations in EHR technology integration/adoption, the role of transcription in safeguarding protected health information (PHI), and the need for workforce development funding in healthcare documentation to ensure a knowledgeable.
“Healthcare can ill afford a knee-jerk reaction to the EHR requirements of the HITECH Act,” states Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE, AHDI/MTIA chief executive officer. “Successful EHR adoption and meaningful interoperability hinge on healthcare’s ability to set standards that promote efficient, cost-effective, quality-driven data capture solutions. The transcription sector is uniquely positioned to offer healthcare delivery the means to make that happen, and that’s what we’ll be sharing with this new Administration and the new Congress.”
The associations will take to the Hill their Transcription: Proven Accelerator to EHR Adoption whitepaper, which includes compelling statistics that demonstrate (a) the loss of income to physicians who integrate EMR/EHR technologies ineffectively, (b) the critical role of transcription technology solutions in facilitating better EHR adoption, (c) the value of solutions that create “rich, interrelated narratives” rather than cookie-cutter records, and (d) the irreplaceable role of a knowledge worker in data integrity management.
About AHDI
The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), has been the professional organization representing medical transcriptionists since 1978. AHDI sets standards of practice and education for medical transcriptionists, administers a dual credentialing program, has established a code of ethics, and advocates on behalf of the profession. For more information, visit www.ahdionline.org.
About MTIA
The Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) is the world’s largest trade association serving medical transcription service operators. Its mission is to create an environment in which medical transcription companies can prosper, grow, and deliver the highest level of healthcare documentation services. For more information, visit www.mtia.com. The two associations formed a strategic legal partnership in 2007 to pool critical resources and collaborate on key initiatives focused on optimizing healthcare delivery.
Above article published on
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/ehr-adoption-success-directly-linked,837291.shtml
