Billing and reimbursement processes within a medical office practice can be challenging efforts. Claims submission processes vary from payer to payer. Online submission processes vary. Treatment and diagnostic codes often change. Unique identifiers for providers and practice vary from payer to payer. These and other complex issues for billing and reimbursement creates the opportunity for coding errors that can cause claims to be rejected, requiring resubmission and delays in payments to providers.
I have a friend with over 20 years as medical office billing expert. She claims that when the rules change (e.g. ICD-9 to ICD-10) it can take in excess of 2 months to manually key in the new diagnostic codes to their system. When I heard this, I wondered why their software didn't automatically add the codes when they were published. Then I heard, "Oh yeah, well... it costs more."
Efforts toward e-Prescribing, Electronic Medical Records (EMR/EHR), and HIE data exchange, make decisions for software purchase complex. Most providers/medical offices will want a software solution that integrates data between billing, practice management, health records, e-prescribing, and data exchange to avoid redundant data entry. Data exchange could mean receiving or sending data to/from Health Information Exchanges (HIE), other providers, facilities, labs, radiology etc. According to the matrix on "meaningful use," it is likely that these characteristics will be required for reimbursement under ARRA.
Now is the time to start thinking about an EHR implementation in order to receive the maximum financial incentives under HITECH's "meaningful use" definition.
The video below illustrates how one Physician uses an EHR. Migration from paper to electronic records can indeed be painful and expensive, especially when the wrong choices are made. Considerations to mitigate the pain include understanding the software's capabilities to select the appropriate EHR for the practice.
After watching the video, and to read more about common problems with installation of EHRs, click here.
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Today medical practitioners are looking to avail of this federal incentive by trying to comply with the definition of meaningful use but at the same time EHR providers are looking at their own set of profits.
This misunderstanding is mostly I believe as a result of wrong interpretation of the federal guidelines. The EHR providers need to look at these guidelines from the prospective of the practitioners who deal with different specialties.
Each specialty EHR has its own set of challenges or requirements which I believe is overlooked by in most EHR vendors in a effort to merely follows federal guidelines. This is resulting in low usability to the practitioners, thus less ROI, finally redundancy of the EHR solution in place.
I think ROI is very important factor that should be duly considered when look achieve a 'meaning use' out of a EHR solution. Though one may get vendors providing 'meaning use' at a lower cost, their ROI / savings through the use of their EHR might be pretty low when compared to costlier initial investment. Found a pretty useful ROI tool that is pretty customizable and easy to use. It also accounts for the different specialty EHR's too.
There are other good references on the topics of:
Usability/meaningful use
Certification criteria for EHR
Also the introduction of REC’s through the HITECH act. is a great way to avail of quality EHR solutions at competitive prices. The stiff competition among not only these REC’s but also among EHR vendors ( to become a preferred vendor of a given REC) will result in lot of positives to medical practioners.
Looking the funding provided to the REC’s, the staggered grant allocation system also promises to be an unbiased way of allocating funds. It will also help in the concept of REC’s helping out each with their own unique business models. It can be one of the possible answers to the ’safe vendor challenge’ as discussed by many critics.
Posted by: vishal | June 30, 2010 at 07:12 PM
The first two HITECH priority grant programs, funded through the Recovery Act, support the national implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) initiative.
Approximately $598 million is being made available through the Health Information Technology Extension Program (Extension Program), to ensure that comprehensive support is available to health technology users.
Under the State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program $564 million will be awarded to support efforts to achieve widespread and sustainable health information exchange (HIE) within and among States through the meaningful use of certified Electronic Health Records.
State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program
The State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program will help States and Qualified State Designated Entities (SDEs) to develop or align the necessary policies, procedures and network systems to assist electronic information exchange within and across states, and ultimately throughout the health care system. A key to this program’s overall success will be technical, legal and financial support for information exchanges across health care providers.
The Extension Program will provide grants for the establishment of Regional Health Information Technology Extension Centers (Regional Centers) that will offer technical assistance, guidance and information on Electronic Health Records best practices.
The Extension Program also establishes a national Health Information Technology Research Center (HITRC), which will gather relevant information on effective practices and help the Regional Centers collaborate to identify and share EHR adoption, effective use, and provider support.
Grants under the Extension Program will be awarded on a rolling basis with:
An expected 20 grants awarded in the first quarter of FY2010,
Another 25 in the third quarter, and
The remaining awards in the fourth quarter of FY2010.
The funding support continues for four years, after which the program is expected to be self-sustaining. Of the total federal investment, $50 million is dedicated to establishing the national HITRC, and remainder is set aside for the Regional Centers.
The Extension Program will establish cooperative agreements through a competitive process to support an estimated 70 (or more) Regional Centers each serving a defined geographic area. The Regional Centers will support at least 100,000 primary care providers, through participating non-profit organizations, in achieving meaningful use of EHRs and enabling nationwide health information exchange.
The Extension Program will also establish a national Health Information Technology Research Center (HITRC), funded separately, which will gather relevant information on effective practices from a wide variety of sources across the country and help the Regional Centers collaborate with one another and with relevant stakeholders to identify and share best practices in EHR adoption, effective use, and provider support.
The HITECH Act clearly prioritizes access to health information technology for historically underserved and other special-needs populations, and use of that technology to achieve reduction in health disparities.
Grants under the Extension Program will be awarded on a rolling basis with an expected 20 grants awarded in the first quarter of FY2010, another 25 in the third quarter and the remaining awards in the fourth quarter of FY2010. The initial funding includes approximately $598 million to ensure that comprehensive support is available to providers under the Extension Program beginning early in FY2010, with an additional $45 million available for years 3 and 4 of the program. Federal support continues for four years, after which the program is expected to be self-sustaining. Of the total federal investment in this program, about $50 million is dedicated to establishing the national HITRC, and $643 million is devoted to the Regional Centers.
The law requires that Regional Centers be affiliated with a U.S.-based, nonprofit institution or organization, or an entity thereof, that applies for and is awarded funding under the Extension Program. The program anticipates that potential applicants will represent various types of nonprofit organizations and institutions with established support and recognition within the local communities they propose to serve.
The performance of each Regional Center will be evaluated every two years by a HHS-appointed panel of private experts, none of whom are associated with the center being evaluated. Continued support for the Regional Center after the conclusion of the second year of performance will be contingent on the panel’s evaluation being, on the whole, positive and on HHS’ determination that such continued federal support for the center is in the best interest of the program.
The Regional Centers will focus their most intensive technical assistance on clinicians (physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners) furnishing primary-care services, with a particular emphasis on individual and small group practices (fewer than 10 clinicians with prescriptive privileges). Clinicians in such practices deliver the majority of primary care services, but have the lowest rates of adoption of EHR systems, and the least access to resources to help them implement, use and maintain such systems. Regional Centers will also focus intensive technical assistance on clinicians providing primary care in public and critical access hospitals, community health centers, and in other settings that predominantly serve uninsured, underinsured, and medically underserved populations.
The Regional Centers will support health care providers with direct, individualized and on-site technical assistance in:
Selecting a certified EHR product that offers best value for the providers’ needs;
Achieving effective implementation of a certified EHR product; Enhancing clinical and administrative workflows to optimally leverage an EHR system’s potential to improve quality and value of care, including patient experience as well as outcome of care; and,
Observing and complying with applicable legal, regulatory, professional and ethical requirements to protect the integrity, privacy and security of patients’ health information.
The Extension Program expects all Regional Centers to be operating at full capacity by the end of December 2010. In addition, it is expected that by the end of December 2012, the Regional Centers will be largely self-sustaining and their need for continued federal support in the remaining two years of the program will be minimal.
Additional information is available at http://healthit.hhs.gov/extensionprogram
Posted by: Marshall Maglothin | August 30, 2009 at 04:37 PM
Thanks for your comment, Steve. I have heard about the Dragon speech recognition software but I assumed it was used mostly for physician notes rather than discrete data and codes as entered into a billing system. I will look for more information at the link you provided. Thank you.
Posted by: Deborah Leyva | July 31, 2009 at 08:52 AM