Feds issues the latest EHR contract guides

Federal agencies are expecting that two latest tools will assist the provider agencies to select, purchase and then make the best utilization of EHRs during the course of care. That’s why the Feds has issued the latest EHR contract guides for the people.

The attempts are part of an effort by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to equip contributors in making great purchase decisions for electronic health records.

The agencies are issuing an EHR contract guides to elaborate key concepts in EHR contracts to help providers in navigating the contractual procedure and assist in the planning and acquisition of records networks.

Furthermore, HHS and ONC are issuing a newly expanded Health IT Playbook, an online device that gives user-friendly tools, resources and guides that can assist providers to implement and use health information technology so that they can optimize their utilization of systems, specifically as providers’ transition to alternative payment models.

The data is specifically useful for smaller healthcare agencies, like physician group practices, that have still to implement EHRs or are considering swapping into latest records systems. Government data indicate that about 25% of eligible professionals have still to implement EHRs.

The guides were established to help healthcare agencies with practical tools to assist “clinicians and healthcare administrators as they navigate the purchase and use of health IT,” claims Vindell Washington, MD, recently named national coordinator for health IT. The initiatives are a response to provider appeals for clear data about choosing, contracting for and utilizing records systems, he further adds.

The EHR contract guides were released yesterday at the start of National Health IT Week.

The new contract guide is termed as EHR Contracts Untangled: Selecting Wisely, Negotiating Terms and Understanding the Fine Print. It involves contract example contract language to assist providers to achieve records systems and negotiate contract terms with vendors.

While the EHR Contract guides concentrated on the acquisition of EHR systems, the concepts and instances might translate into purchases of other types of health IT products. Beyond concentrating on contract language, the guide also looks at uncertainties like handling safety and security risks, ensuring data integrity, and managing disagreements or decisions to turn to another EHR product.

 “Purchasing procedures and contracts have a significant role in ensuring information can move freely and securely across all the devices and IT systems utilized in patient care,” states Ed Cantwell, executive director of the Center for Medical Interoperability. “This guide can assist to foster the dialogue between buyers and sellers to acquire that shared target.”

The Health IT Playbook is intended to fill a gap in enabling clinicians to utilize health IT products in the procedure of delivering patient care. ONC claims the guide:

• Recognizes and shares practices and success stories around several phases of EHR and health information technology implementation.


• Offer information about how providers can resolve key problems and challenges regarded to optimizing health information technology and tailoring it to their workflow.


• Gives particular illustrations on how laws such as the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rule motivate the exchange of electronic health data for care planning, quality measurement and betterment, and other operations.


• Serves as a central resource for health care providers and health information technology professionals when seeking direction on using the most up-to-date technologies and procedures to support patient care and assist their offices function efficiently.

 

CMS grants $100M to assist docs to adopt payment system

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hopes to spend $100 million over 5 years to give Medicare clinicians customized direct assistance, like training and education to acquire success under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System.

The funding is needed as part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, or MACRA.

These funds will target minor practices of 15 or fewer clinicians, predominantly in rural places, health professional shortage places and medically underserved regions, with the aim of easing the transformation from fee-for-service to value and outcomes-based reimbursement.

“Doctors and healthcare contributors in small and rural practices are critical to our aim of building a health care system that works for everyone,” stated Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. “Supporting local healthcare contributors with the resources and data essential for them to offer quality care is a top priority for this administration.”

CMS is finding partners to give the services to physicians, like quality improvement agencies, regional extension centers and other regional health collaborative agencies. Under CMS’ plan, there’ll be no cost to physicians for the services.

Participating agency would assist physicians to work through what they require to be successful, like which quality measures or EHR system would be most suitable for their practices. Clinicians also would get clinical practice improvement training, which would involve assessing new workflows and whether they should join an alternative payment model.

“Giving these tools to assist physicians and other clinicians in small practices navigate new programs is key to making certain they are capable to concentrate on what is most significant: the requirements of their patients,” stated B. Vindell Washington, MD, principal deputy national coordinator. “As with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s funding for Regional Extension Centers, this assistance will help healthcare contributors leverage health information technology to modify their practices and the care they deliver.”