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Upset over premium increases? Read on…

Thankfully, we have some news that does not include politics, what is or is not being built in Manhattan, the plugged oil well in the Gulf and the worst kept secret of the year, where is Chelsea Clinton getting married.  We found some great news, sort of, on a pay cut for a CEO.

Despite a 6 percent pay cut, Aetna CEO Ron Williams’ compensation in 2009 was valued at more than $18 million, making his pay package $5 million higher than WellPoint’s Angela Braly.  Braly, you may recall, was highly criticized for receiving a 51 percent compensation increase from 2008 to 2009 on the heels of controversial premium rate increases for individual policy holders.

On second thought, we might all want to stick to politics

EMR Feature Alert | .MD

Does your current EMR Software Offer HIPPA Compliant | SECURE EMAIL FUNCTIONALITY?

An August 11th article on iHealthBeat, Sending Text Messages to Teens With Diabetes Boosts Drug Adherence, shows how modern technology such as texting can improve patient’s health.  With the .mdEmail package, practices have the ability to email messages and reminders from .mdEmail to patient’s cell phone.  With the number of juvenile diabetes patients in America today, not only do the parents and the children have to know the signs to look for, but the teachers and nurses in the schools as well.

Sending Text Messages to Teens With Diabetes Boosts Drug Adherence

A small pilot study at Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that adolescent patients with diabetes who received text messages related to their medication plan were less likely to miss treatment doses, Healthcare IT News reports.

The rate of non-adherence to medication regimens among adolescent patients is four times higher than the rate for adult patients.

In the study, Nationwide Children’s Hospital endocrinologist Jennifer Dyer sent her adolescent diabetes patients personalized questions and reminders tied to diabetes adherence. She also sent messages offering support to the patients.  It is of utmost importance that the teachers of the adolescent diabetes patients know the questions and reminders of diabetes adherence for the child to maintain the proper insulin levels throughout the day.

Dyer’s questions touched upon patients’ glucose testing, meals and the frequency of high and low glucose levels.  After three months, Dyer said patients who received the texts were three times less likely to miss a dose.  As a nation, we need to make this standard operating procedure in all schools.  It will not only be a health factor for the children but also an educational factor as well.  When the child’s blood sugar levels are too high or too low, they can’t concentrate and thus, do not do well in class.

iPhone App

Dyer has applied for an internal grant to test an iPhone application she developed that would allow endocrinologists to send automated, personalized texts to several patients at a certain time (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 8/10).

Final Rule Analysis – EMR

Here’s my analysis of the key changes in the Final Rule:

As we have recently stated,  HHS has adopted the HIT Policy Committee recommendation to frame Meaningful Use as core requirements and discretionary requirements. In so doing, they have reduced the total number of requirements and introduced choice.  There is still much to learn and implement prior to the CMS payments that begin May 2011.

Overall this final rule maintains a balance between the policy objectives sought and the technology changes possible that are achievable now. There will still be 3 stages of meaningful use and later stages will be more demanding. All the original stage 1 requirements will still be part of meaningful use by stage 2.

In January of 2011, the clinicians may begin the 90 day process of using a certified record per meaningful use requirements. Attestation of this use begins in April 2011. It is extremely important, prior to investing in a EMR product, that it not only meets the criteria of Meaningful Use but also supports the practices with the training needed to obtain the reimbursements from the government.

Are There EMR Incentives Outside of Medicare and Medicaid?

 

The short answer (at least for now) is not really. The ARRA EHR stimulus money is provided through Medicare and Medicaid programs as “bonuses” for those who show “meaningful use”  of a “certified EHR.”

With that said, there are some grants available for special situations. For example, they have a beacon communities program which are given to organizations that will supposedly take EHR software to the next level and be examples for their communities of what can be done with IT and EMR software.

We’ve heard that there are other grants that practices can apply for also, but I’m not sure all of the details. We’ve also heared that there might be some EMR stimulus money available in the latest healthcare reform bill. For example, I read somewhere recently that the healthcare reform bill includes some stimulus money for long term care which has basically been left out of stimulus money as well.

Meaningful Use

At a news conference on Tuesday, where speakers included HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, new CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Blumenthal, and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin it was announced that the $27.3 BILLION will now be a bit easier to gain access to for both providers as well as hospitals nationwide.

Thanks to some revisions, the “Meaningful Use Regulations” that providers must follow include 20 criteria under a formula that includes 15 mandatory quality measures and 5 others that can be choosen from a “menu” of 10. This change lightens up the otherwise “all or nothing” criteria that was previously set forth.

Meaningful use

A recent report, (Ready or Not: On the road to the meaningful use of EHRs and health IT,) indicated 80% of hospital CIOs are concerned or very concerned about meeting and adhering to the recently released meaningful use criteria.

Meaningful use standards must be met to trigger release of incentive funds provided by the government to spur adoption of electronic records. Tens of billions of dollars are at stake, but about half of the CIOs surveyed indicated that their hospital would not be ready to apply by 2011, when the incentive funds will become available. The government will raise the bar for meeting the standards in 2013 and again in 2015.

Our question to you – If 80% of hospital CIOs are concerned about not meeting this criteria, how well are you prepared?

With a bit of commitment, a willingness to adapt to new technologies, and assistance from an experienced HealthIT consulting firm the adoption of a new EMR system can not only increase the productivity of a practice but also add valuable reimbursements for years to come.

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