More State Medicaid EHR Programs, HIPAA Delays,and REC Participation


Just the Facts from Joe Friday

The numbers and facts you are about to see are all true… As of November 17th

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  • 6 more States launched their Medicaid EHR Incentive programs – Arkansas, Delaware, Montana, New Jersey, New York, and North Dakota. This brings the total to 39.
  • 23 states have issued incentive payments to Medicaid EPs and eligible hospitals.
  • November 30, 2011, is the last day for Medicare eligible hospitals and CAHs to register and attest to receive an incentive payment for Federal fiscal year 2011.
  • ONC announced that more than 100,000 primary care providers have signed up to work with RECs to adopt EHRs by participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive programs. This number represents just over 1/3 of all primary care providers nationwide.
  • One-half of the providers now working with an REC come from small group or consortia practices. The other half make up is 18% in community health centers, 11% in public hospitals, and 21% in other underserved settings (CAHs, rural health clinics, practices in medically underserved areas).
  • CMS announced it will delay the enforcing of the new HIPAA transaction standards for 90 days (until March 31, 2012). Compliance of moving to the ASC X12 version 5010 has not changed from January 1, 2011.
  • Veteran’s Day marked the one year anniversary for the VA and the Blue Button project. Blue Button allows veterans to engage in their healthcare by downloading, updating and sharing their medical records.
  • Surescripts says that 52% of office-based physicians use e-Prescribe, this is compared to fewer than 10% three years ago.

Have a good weekend.