Healthcare Stimulus
Last Updated on Saturday, 15 August 2009 18:18
What will the stimulus do for me? $17.2 Billion is a lot of money. Part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) includes $17.2 Billion for Healthcare. What does this HITECH Act mean to you? Many practices may ignore the benefits this stimulus package makes available. Recent similar efforts from Medicare have been widely ignored by the medial practice segment. PQRI is one of the latest that allowed additional revenues for meeting certain criteria. Here are some points to remember as you make your decisions
Many moving parts. If you are making a change to your systems, remember there are several important pieces you need to consider including ePerscribing, PQRI, Medicare Advantaged, and regulatory issues like X12 5010 compliance and the upcoming ICD-10 mandates. Just make sure if you are looking for upgrade your system, or replace your system that you keep all of these opportunities on your list of requirements.
Stimulus requirements. One of the current frustrations is that while the incentives have been publicized, the specific requirements for qualifying have not been announced. So, should you wait? Maybe, and maybe not. CCHIT has a standard that vendors can certify their systems against. This certification is widely acknowledged as the most likely certification you will need to have to meet the stimulus requirements. It is probably a good bet that if your system is CCHIT certified, you will be safe in moving forward. Hopefully the requirements will be made public soon and the guessing will be over.
What should I do now? First, decide what is the highest priority, taking advantage of the stimulus money and avoiding the penalty down the road of not participating, versus deciding on changing the way you practice medicine. Implementing an EHR is a major change that promises huge benefits to your practice, and your patients. For practices who decide to implement a full EHR only because of the Stimulus there will be a large percentage who fail and end up costing themselves far more that the Stimulus benefit. There may be ways to meet the minimum standards with minimal changes to your practice, but only the disclosure of requirements and meaning behind "Meaningful Use" will determine the options here. But for those who really want to change the way you practice medicine, and help your patients, the Stimulus is just a nice benefit. You can start today by picking a reputable vendor who strives for continuous adherence to the industry standards around the EHR marketplace. By picking someone who is financially strong, adhering to standards, and pledging to meet the Stimulus standards, you can start the process immediately.
Bookmark
Email this
Hits: 1139
