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Incentives For Meaningful Use Certified Ehr

By Coleen Torres


Incorporation of technology in health management has prompted the national authority to offer incentives in order to boost compliance. The incentives offered under the meaningful use certified ehr target hospitals, professionals and critical access hospitals. The national office is responsible for enhancing capacity building and ensuring compliance. It has released a set of regulations that must be met in order to achieve the certificate.

The program began with a trail temporary program for target parties. It aimed at testing compliance and helping in capacity building as institutions and individuals prepared for permanent status. Enjoyment of incentives with a temporary certificate can only be approved if proof is provided that the systems were operation over the period of claim. There is a set threshold for such evidence.

A permanent program has been introduced with the aim of replacing the temporary one. This will not phase out the temporary one. A transition period has been provided for interested parties to take advantage. The information is being updated on regular bases as the authority concerned seeks to find a longer lasting solution.

There are national and conformance tests, requirements, tools and cases designed by the national institute of standards and technology with the aim of evaluating capacity. The test runs through a facility will indicate if it can handle the technology or not. The standards, tests, tools and requirement are released to the public so that a candidate can self evaluate before seeking approval.

Incentives are only provided to facilities and institutions that can prove that they are effectively utilizing this technology. They must meet a particular threshold as set by the standardization institute. The threshold includes exchange of care summary records alongside patient information sharing.

There are different thresholds for health facilities, professionals and critical access hospitals. This means that each entity has a threshold to meet depending on its specialization. Professionals working in such an environment must also meet a certain threshold.

Ehr requirements are met in stages. The stages require unique levels of engagement and participation. The first stage will run for 90 days during the first year of evaluation. The second year will be reviewed in entirety making a total of fifteen months. Only institutions and professionals who complete the first stage are allowed to proceed to the next phase.

The second phase takes two full years to allow authorities to check compliance and capacity for permanent certification. Individuals are vetted following the calendar year while hospitals follow the federal fiscal calendar. It is possible to find a certified individual working in an institution that is yet to be certified. The requirements for each entity are different.

There are 17 core objectives to be met by professionals seeking incentives while hospitals and critical access hospitals are required to meet 16 of them. Professionals are also provided with a menu of six from where they have to choose three more objectives. This brings their total tally to twenty. The total for hospitals is nineteen.

The payments made under ehr are subjected to federal reductions commonly refereed to as sequentration. The percentage that is operating at the moment is 2 percent as it applies to medicare. The reporting period for this percentage ended in April of 2013.




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