Questions from the Field

I’m beginning to get a series of questions from the field on a variety of issues related to policy and/or points of view.  As they come in, I’ll be sharing them with the wider readership as much as possible.  We’ll edit them down to the basic point.  I hope this “sharing of information and perspective” is a useful addition to the Washington Report.

From Craig Williams, Chief Financial Officer at Tufts-New England Medical Center – Boston, Massachusetts: 

There is one particular component of ARRA that is a big open item for our physician practice.  Most of our providers operating in a "Hospital Based" practice based on the Medicare Billing regs…  Within the initial stimulus documentation, there is language that says, "Hospital-based professionals (e.g., pathologists, anesthesiologists, or emergency physicians) are not entitled to such incentive payments if they furnish most of their services in a hospital setting and use the facilities and equipment, including qualified electronic health records (EHR), of the hospital."  Can you provide any clarity? 

Great question.  Unfortunately, hospital-based eligible professionals are ineligible for the EHR incentive payments under both Medicare and Medicaid. The Department of Health and Human Services will be releasing a forthcoming NPRM that will propose a definition for determining whether a physician or other eligible professional is hospital-based.  (See the following link – https://questions.cms.hhs.gov

From Mickey Davis, Perot Systems Associate – Plano,Texas:

After reading the articles below (very good this month), I would like to better understand how we are thinking of inserting Perot Systems in the Aggressive Timeline to "Meaningful Use" extension centers, or are we working more at a top-down level? It seems if these centers will help drive the selection we will need to be at the door of each location to get Perot Systems front and center.  Thanks for taking the time.

Last week, I talked about the importance of the Health IT Extension Program to bringing physicians to "meaningful use." While the environment continues to be fluid, the challenge includes reaching out to providers that have a limited time on their schedule, less access to centralized informational resources, and even tighter budgets. With these things in mind, we have been creating our strategy around how to support the vision and goals of the program and its regional extension centers.

To expedite the adoption and growth of EHR and data exchange technology, we’ve packaged specific services that will cater specifically to this physician base:

• EHR Subscription Pricing
• Rural Regional Health Information Exchanges (HIEs)
• Remote and Regional Education Forums
• Remote Implementation
• Remote Training
• Clinic-centric Support Desk

We hope to help state health associations with a proactive outreach program on ARRA and associated technologies required to achieve “meaningful use.” The success to meet the aggressive timeline will require both a top-down and bottom-up approach from all stakeholders.

Along with the funding released for the Health IT Extension Program, $564 million was also announced to support efforts to achieve widespread and sustainable health information exchange (HIE). This is an important component of the definition of “meaningful use” and a priority for the regional extension centers.

The views and opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Dell Services or its affiliates.