Meaningful Use Update

Anatomy of a patient-friendly bill
What’s in the Final Rules and How it Will Impact Your Practice

It’s no secret that the Meaningful Use criteria under the HITECH provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) requires healthcare providers to successfully exchange electronic clinical healthcare information, such as ePrescriptions, to receive incentives and avoid penalties in payments from Medicare and Medicaid. Eligible professionals who meet the criteria can receive up to $44,000 from Medicare or up to $64,000 from Medicaid over five years, starting in 2011. After receiving over 2,000 public comments, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a final set of rules that addressed a number of the concerns that had been expressed during the comment period. Although the final rules contain hundreds of pages of requirements, they do offer greater flexibility and are expected to accelerate the adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) in physician practices across the country. Join us as we examine the final rules on Meaningful Use and how Emdeon can assist your practice in meeting those requirements.

Meaningful Use Requirements
To ensure that physicians are using EMRs to improve the quality of care and to exchange healthcare information with other providers and patients, the government has mandated that doctors meet certain requirements for Meaningful Use. There are three stages of Meaningful Use, which will have progressively more demanding requirements. Stage 1, covering 2011 and 2012, focuses on capturing information electronically in a coded format; using that data to track key conditions and coordinate care; implementing clinical decision support; and reporting quality measures. Stage 2, which will take effect in 2013, will require the use of EMRs for “continuous quality improvement” and more structured data exchange. And Stage 3, starting in 2015, will take all of these processes further, with an emphasis on decision support tools, patient self-management tools, and population health management, according to HHS. Non-hospital-based physicians are eligible for Medicare incentives if they can show Meaningful Use. For a doctor to be eligible for Medicaid incentives, at least 30 percent of his or her practice must consist of Medicaid patients (20 percent for pediatricians) and eligible professionals may receive EMR incentives from Medicare or Medicaid, but not through both programs.

Based on the final rule, eligible professionals must meet a set of 15 core objectives determined to be a starting point for Meaningful Use, as well as five additional objectives selected from a menu of 10 options, for at least a portion of their patients. This approach, which is different from the proposed set of 25 all-or-nothing criteria, is intended to give providers flexibility in meeting Meaningful Use. The final rule on Meaningful Use is available for download and includes program contact information for additional questions about these criteria.

Under the core objective list eligible professionals must use their EMRs to:


  1. Use CPOE for medication orders directly entered by any licensed healthcare professional who can enter orders into the medical record per state, local and professional guidelines

  2. Implement drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks

  3. Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically

  4. Record patient demographics (sex, race, ethnicity, date of birth)

  5. Record vital signs and chart changes (height, weight, blood pressure, body mass index growth charts for children)

  6. Maintain up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses

  8. Maintain active medication list

  9. Maintain active medication allergy list

  10. Record smoking status for patients 13 years of age or older

  11. Provide clinical summaries for patients for each office visit

  12. On request, provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information (including diagnostic test results, problem list, medication lists, medication allergies, and discharge summary and procedures)

  13. Implement capability to electronically exchange key clinical information among providers and patient-authorized entities

  14. Implement one clinical decision support rule and ability to track compliance with the rule

  15. Implement systems to protect privacy and security of patient data in the EHR

  16. Report clinical quality measures to CMS or States



Under the menu set of criteria, providers must implement five of the following 10 criteria:

  1. Implement drug formulary checks

  2. Incorporate clinical lab test results into EHRs as structured data

  3. Generate lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research, or outreach

  4. Use EHR technology to identify patient-specific education resources and provide them to the patient as needed

  5. Conduct medication reconciliation between care settings

  6. Provide summary of care record for patients referred or transitioned to another provider or setting

  7. Submit electronic immunization data to immunization registries or immunization information systems

  8. Submit electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies

  9. Provide patients with timely electronic access to their health information (including lab results, problem list, medication lists, medication allergies) within four business days of the information being available

  10. Send reminders to patients (per patient preference) for preventive and follow-up care


Notably, the Stage 1 criteria do not include documentation of visit notes in discrete categories. Many EMR products either lack this capability or offer very basic note-taking modules; so the government’s decision not to require it in Stage 1 will enable physicians to use these products to achieve meaningful use, if they meet other requirements. However, discrete documentation of notes may be required in Stage 2 or Stage 3.

Emdeon’s Meaningful Use Portal
Emdeon, which is the largest administrative network in healthcare and has extensive lab and pharmacy connectivity, offers an EMR Lite solution called the Emdeon Office Suite. This easy-to-use web-based application simplifies everyday administrative and clinical processes including eligibility and benefits verification, claims and payment management, patient billing and payment as well as clinical tools that can help providers meet Meaningful Use criteria. Emdeon Office Suite integrates these capabilities with hundreds of practice management systems so providers can link to their billing and scheduling system for patient demographic and insurance data. Lab results are imported directly into the EMR Lite satisfying an optional requirement of Meaningful Use. The Emdeon Office Suite can also be used as a “plug-in” product that supports bi-directional exchange of discrete data with conventional EMRs.

Emdeon Office Suite will meet Meaningful Use criteria or we’ll give you your money back*.

Call us today to learn how our products can help you qualify for Meaningful Use incentives, accelerate your reimbursement, improve your productivity and simplify workflows in your office.

866.369.8805
PhysicianInfo@emdeon.com
www.emdeon.com/clinicaltools

*Emdeon will meet Stage 1 Criteria for Meaningful Use of EHR Technology or we will refund up to six months of fees. Terms and conditions apply.



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