January 27 Reception EHR Meaningful Use Update
In conjunction with the Broome County Medical Society, Southern Tier HealthLink (STHL) and New York eHealth Collaborative ( NYeC) will host a reception for physicians and their office managers at STHL's offices in the Lackawanna train station in downtown Binghamton on Thursday January 27, 2011. The reception begins with hors d' oeuvres at 5:30pm followed by a presentation on Electronic Health Record (EHR) Meaningful Use and support resources that are available locally. A question and answer period will follow the presentation.
Paul Wilder, NYeC Director of Healthcare IT Adoption based in New York City, will explain the Medicare and Medicaid "Meaningful Use" programs intended to both encourage adoption of electronic health records and their use to the point that they truly improve patient care. There are big incentives for qualifying providers to reach "Meaningful Use"- as much as $44,000 (through Medicare) and $63,750 (through Medicaid) per clinician. Wilder's talk will be equally beneficial to providers and practice that are in the early stages of participation, as well as those who are further along in meeting the "Meaningful Use" requirements.
Christina Galanis, STHL Executive Director, will introduce STHL and services that STHL offers local healthcare organizations, including access to STHL's health information exchange. She will also cover other health information services that are currently in development.
Please note that this event is open to Healthcare professionals.
RSVP to Shirley or Cindy at the Broome County Medical Society, or .
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Electronic Consent Now Available at Lourdes Hospital
Southern Tier HealthLink (STHL) and Lourdes Hospital will soon begin electronically exchanging STHL consent indicators. Lourdes Hospital registration personnel will continue to ask patients to participate in STHL's health information exchange and, starting in late January, patients' responses will be submitted to STHL via an electronic interface that connects Lourdes Hospital to the health information exchange.
This new exchange of information speeds up a process that has, up to this point, been a manual process. This more efficient exchange of information also gives Lourdes Hospital providers quicker access to their patients' records in the health information exchange. Patients will continue to sign a form.
STHL is pursuing similar projects across its service area.
Key personnel at Lourdes who have helped complete this project include Tom Corino, Jim Huggans, Brenda Serafini and Patti Willis. STHL thanks them for their continued support and participation in our health information exchange.
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Delaware Valley Hospital Goes Live with Test Results
On January 25, STHL will begin receiving test results electronically from Delaware Valley Hospital (DVH) in Walton, NY. Examples of the test results received include labs (blood, microbiology, pathology) from examining physicians. Results will be available in the STHL database on a "go forward" basis. Results prior to January will not be available in the STHL Health Information Exchange (HIE).
Both providers and patients throughout the region will benefit from this added information.
When a DVH patient is referred to a participating provider elsewhere in the region, that provider will have access to the patient's test results that were done at DVH. By having the latest information available, providers will be better able to make a highly informed, timely diagnosis. Patients benefit from enhanced quality of care and the avoidance of repetitive tests and procedures, which in turn saves costs throughout the system.
STHL wishes to thank Lisa Moffett at Delaware Valley Hospital, Dan Walker in UHS Information Technology, Abdias Patterson at HMS, and Casey Chester at Accent on Integration for their support in "Connecting the Dots" with this latest addition to the STHL HIE.
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STHL Presents to SUNY BEST
STHL Executive Director Christina Galanis presented an overview of STHL's Health Information Exchange to a regional group of senior staff members from key economic and educational institutions in the Southern Tier at the Binghamton University Downtown Center on January 6. She highlighted the technological change that is coming to medical records and how it represents a significant workforce training opportunity across the region.
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SUNY BEST members learn about STHL's Health Information Exchange
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SUNY BEST (SUNY Business and Education Cooperative of the Southern Tier) was organized several years ago to forge strong alliances to strengthen industry specific needs, provide information and outreach for businesses, and explore and support the business community workforce needs for traditional and emerging industry clusters. Members provide information on funding opportunities, and collaborate on business and education legislative agendas both state-wide and federally.
Review a copy of the STHL SUNY presentation at Connecting the Dots for Better Healthcare.
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STHL Presents to Lourdes Independent
Provider Group
John Hayek, Community Outreach Coordinator for Southern Tier HealthLink, presented to approximately 25 independent practice managers on January 11 via Lourdes Physician Services. The presentation was arranged by Lourdes Physician Services Manager Terry Donato, who provides administrative services for many of the independent practices in the Southern Tier who have privileges at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
The quarterly Practice Manager meeting was held in the Lourdes Lecture Hall. Topics included an update of STHL's progress in establishing access to the many HIE data sources in the Southern Tier, a demonstration of STHL's web portal, and an overview of the 2009 Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program and related Meaningful Use Provider requirements.
Meeting participants learned that even if they are still on a paper-based records system, or if they have an EHR that is not yet connected to STHL, they can access the Health Information Exchange via a web portal. Participants were also given several valuable links for more information on Meaningful Use:
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Important Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Change
Medicaid has made a change to the definition and calculation of the "net average allowable cost" for which a provider is responsible in The Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 (Public Law No: 111-309), enacted on December 15, 2010.
- A provider qualifying for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program (30% threshold, 20% for pediatrics does not change) will receive $21,250 for their first year incentive payment period.
- $21,250 is the AIU payment (acquire, implement, upgrade)
- The provide will NOT need to show they contributed to the cost of their Certified EHR nor will they have to attest that they did not receive more than $29,000 from outside sources.
- Paperwork burden ont he AIU payment is therefore much simpler.
The new changes allow CMS to estimate the average payment that Medicaid providers will receive from other (non-governmental) sources. Rather than requiring each eligible professional to calculate payments received from outside sources, each will use the average amount established by CMS. After conducting the required studies, CMS has determined the average contribution from outside sources will remain at $29,000.
CMS earlier determined the average allowable cost to adopt a certified EHR for this program to be $54,000. Reducing this amount by the $29,000 from outside sources, the "net average allowable cost" for this program remains at the statutory $25,000 per provider. Previously, the statute required that in order to receive an incentive payment for 85% of the net average allowable cost ($21,250) in the first payment year, a provider had to demonstrate that he or she contributed the remaining 15% ($3,750). Under the recent change, as long as the State can verify that no more than 85% of the net average allowable cost was paid to the provider as an incentive payment, a provider is determined to have met the remaining 15% of the cost.
For the latest updates on this and related topics, we encourage you to check the website for New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) at http://www.nyecrec.org/index.php/education-a-resources/news/rss?mid=44.
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STHL STAFF
Executive Director
Christina Galanis
Deputy Director
Emily Pape
Project Coordinators
Paul Almy
John Hayek
Dennis Sherba
Database Coordinator
Kirsten Griffin
Administrative Consultant
Carolyn Stanford
Help Desk Support Specialist
Chris Yale
Staff Accountant
Michelle Cleveland
Administrative Secretary
Judy Selby
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