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Drives for Education - June 28, 2009
Stimulus Package - June 27, 2009
Welcome new Doctors - June 27, 2009
UM User Group Meetings - June 26, 2009
E-Prescribe - June 25, 2009
Drives for Education - June 28, 2009
Alumni Association held a golf outing for a scholarship fundraiser May 9th, 2009. Goldy-Beacom College Thanks Title Sponsor United Medical. United Medical is proud to support scholarships for worthy students at Goldey-Beacom College.
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Stimulus Package - June 27, 2009
The road to electronic health record (EHR) adoption just got a little sweeter for physicians with President Obama’s recent signing of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Widely referred to as “The Stimulus Package,” the Act provide approximately $35 billion in Medicare and Medicaid incentives to eligible professionals for “meaningful use” of qualified EHR systems in their practices (use of a hospital EHR does not qualify the physician or provider for these incentives).
The $35 billion in Medicare and Medicaid incentives is comprised of $12 billion in estimated lower Medicare and Medicaid spending, as a result of a more efficient Healthcare system, $3 billion of additional tax revenues from businesses that are expected to be more profitable as a result lower healthcare spending, and an estimated $3-5 billion of penalties that will be levied on providers do not adopt an appropriate amount of information technology. The net of those pieces is $17 billion price tag that the congressional budget office put on the stimulus plan.
All physician EHR incentive payments are targeted at providers that do not primarily operate in a hospital setting. This is not driven by who employs the physician, but rather whose EHR the physician uses. The government does not want to provide incentive payments to physicians that are only using a hospital's EHR system.
EHR Incentive Schedule
Fiscal Year |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
Year 6 |
Total |
2011 |
$18,000 |
$12,000 |
$8,000 |
$4,000 |
$2,000 |
$0 |
$44,000 |
2012 |
$18,000 |
$12,000 |
$8,000 |
$4,000 |
$2,000 |
$0 |
$44,000 |
2013 |
$15,000 |
$12,000 |
$8,000 |
$4,000 |
$0 |
$0 |
$39,000 |
2014 |
$12,000 |
$8,000 |
$4,000 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$24,000 |
2015 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
If providers decide not to adopt a qualified EHR, system there are reimbursement penalties that begin in 2015. The penalties for not adopting are as follows:
EHR Penalty Schedule
Year |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019+ |
Penalty as % of Reimbursement |
1% |
2% |
3% |
4% |
5% |
Medicare EHR Incentive
Physicians who meet the following criteria are eligible for Medicare bonuses equal to 75 percent of their allowable Part B charges beginning in fiscal year 2011:
Eligible Physicians:
(MD, DO, DDS, DDM, DPM, OD, DC)
Meaningful Use:
Must use a qualified EHR system in a “meaningful way” which must include electronic prescribing.
Information Exchange:
Physicians must demonstrate that the EHR is connected in a way that provides for the electronic exchange of health information to improve care quality, such as promoting care coordination.
Reporting on Measures:
Physicians must report clinical quality measures (still undefined, but likely to be aligned with a nationally-recognized reporting initiative such as PQRI).
Early adopters may receive up to $18,000 the first year, $12,000 the second year, $8,000 the third year, $4,000 the fourth year and $2,000 the fifth year. If physicians adopt after fiscal year 2012, then their payments will be progressively lower. The payments will begin at $12,000. It is extremely advantageous to be qualified early to capitalize on the maximum incentive payments. Physicians must qualify by fiscal year 2014 to receive any payments as part of this incentive program and will receive no payments after 2016.
Eligible physicians who are not using an EHR by 2015 will be subject to penalties in the form of reduction of Medicare payments. By 2019 the penalties can be as high as 5 percent reduction of Medicare payments.
Medicaid EHR Incentive
A qualified provider with 30 percent of their patient volume (or 20 percent for pediatricians) in Medicaid patients can apply for the Medicaid EHR incentive program instead of the Medicare incentive program. Qualified providers include physicians, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives. 2011 is the first fiscal year professionals can qualify for these incentives and the last fiscal year to begin payments in 2016. Physicians could receive incentive payments of 85 percent of “any reasonable cost” associated with implementing or maintaining an EHR over five years. Implementation costs cannot exceed $25,000 and maintenance costs per year cannot exceed $10,000.
The advantage of the Medicaid payments is the provider does not have to initially be a meaningful user of a qualified EHR or reporting quality data. The potential aggregate payments are also $63,750, which is greater than the payments available under the Medicare program.
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Welcome new Doctors - June 27, 2009
Doctor Pedro David joined United Medical
Doctor Valentin Fegel joined United Medical
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UM User Group Meetings - June 26, 2009
Please check our website for upcoming events
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E- Prescribe - June 25, 2009
More than 8.8 million adverse drug events occur each year in ambulatory care—of which more than 30 percent are preventable.1 As a result, several government and healthcare entities advocate for the widespread use of electronic prescribing among physicians.
In 2007, 83 pieces of legislation were introduced across 14 states that addressed either the promotion or regulation of e-prescribing. Future Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requirements may limit or eliminate the use of computer-generated faxes for communicating new prescriptions or refill requests, and states such as Minnesota require the use of e-prescribing by 2011.
PowerWorks® ePrescribe allows you to electronically order prescriptions, providing increased patient safety around medication management. Coupled with a practice management solution, PowerWorks ePrescribe:
• Automates new prescriptions and renewals
• Supports regulatory compliance
• Delivers electronic decision support at the time of order entry
PowerWorks ePrescribe comes with features not typically included with e-prescribing software, providing a natural transition to a comprehensive electronic medical record (EMR) for only $25 per provider, per month. The solution is ideal for clients using PowerWorks Specialty Practice Management (PM), PowerWorks PM, Ideal, Wisdom and other Cerner-supported practice management solutions. Interfaces also can be built to non-Cerner practice management solutions for an additional fee.
Click below to Learn More:
Automation made simple
Eliminate preventable errors
Reliable EDI partnerships
Smooth transition to EMR
Innovation and leadership
Automation Made Simple
PowerWorks ePrescribe allows you to automate the ordering of new prescriptions and renewals without the commitment of a full EMR. Electronic transmission to the pharmacy takes place via electronic data interface (EDI). With a minimal learning curve, this simple automation dramatically reduces the number of phone calls and faxes typically associated with the refill authorization process.
You’ll have more time to focus on your expertise: patient care. A recent Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) study estimates that the time spent solely on refill authorization phone calls costs physicians $10,000 each year.
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Eliminate Preventable Errors
With one out of 131 ambulatory patient deaths attributed to medication errors2, access to relevant patient information is critical at the point of care. PowerWorks ePrescribe eliminates preventable adverse medication events through the use of drug-to-drug, drug-to-allergy and drug-to-food checking at the time of order.
As you order, the Multum® expert database checks against the patient’s allergies and current medication list. This clinical information, paired with access to the patient’s chronic conditions, enables safe medication ordering. Medication education materials also are available for you to print and share with patients.
Easy to learn, PowerWorks ePrescribe also eliminates illegible handwriting and incomplete prescriptions from your office, decreasing medication errors and your office’s liability.
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Reliable EDI partnerships
PowerWorks ePrescribe partners with SureScripts®, a premier third-party provider, to supply the network for electronic data transmission. SureScripts has a relationship with 95 percent of pharmacies across the country.
If a recipient pharmacy is not electronically enabled, the prescription will be converted to fax. SureScripts’ faxing service will send the fax to a non-EDI pharmacy. You can rest easy knowing that you have a secure, reliable two-way transmission of your order.
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Smooth transition to EMR
PowerWorks ePrescribe is not a typical stand-alone solution. As a module within PowerWorks EMR, it offers you a stepping stone to a fully functional EMR with little effort.
With PowerWorks ePrescribe, you have access to:
• A Message Center that allows you to receive and respond to electronic refill requests from pharmacies
• Proxies that ensure new messages and renewals are addressed
• Pools that allow appropriate clinicians to complete tasks that do not require physician involvement
• Problem and Diagnosis lists to manage chronic conditions
• Historical patient information from your practice management (PM) solution via a PM interface
The solution gives you the flexibility to ease automation into your office as desired. Once you are familiar with the look and general workflow of PowerWorks ePrescribe, you are on your way to a smooth, feasible transition to EMR—avoiding a lengthy implementation process and steep learning curve.
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Innovation and leadership
Cerner, the nation’s leading supplier of HIT solutions, is the power behind PowerWorks. Through the consistent leadership of our three founders, we have focused exclusively on healthcare for more than a quarter century.
For more information about PowerWorks ePrescribe, call us today at 800.927.1024,
or visit us at www.cernerpowerworks.com.
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