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Mostashari: Sequestration will be difficult for Meaningful Use program

March 6th, 2013 Comments off

 

Sequestration, set to begin April 1, will prove to be a painful blow to the Meaningful Use Medicare incentive program, National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari said Wednesday, speaking to members of the press at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s annual meeting in New Orleans. Medicare reimbursements are set to be reduced by 2 percent, a total that, according to Mostashari, will take roughly $3 million away from ONC’s budget.”To provide a little context, in 2004, when President Bush started–by executive order–the Office of the National Coordinator, our first year’s budget was $60 million, and we had 1 percent of physicians who were prescribing electronically via electronic health records,” Mostashari said. “Last year, our budget was $60 million–in fact, I think it was $117 less–and we had 70 percent of physicians e-prescribing via EHRs.”

Mostashari ran down a growing list issues that have cropped up since 2004 for ONC–including security and usability issues–as well as growing responsibilities of the office–including creating national guidance–in solidifying his point about just how much the cuts would impact healthcare.

“We have development of national policy around Meaningful Use … and the $20 billion in health IT incentive programs, and the $3 trillion we spend on healthcare in this country, and our budget was $60 billion. Oh no, oops, it’s not $60 million, it’s now $57 million, with $3 million cut based on sequestration. Absent a furlough of our staff, it is going to mean that we have a major cut in contracts that we have.

“There are going to be things that the industry expects us to do, that providers and patients will expect us to do, that we simply will not be able to do. We have zero flexibility in terms of how the sequester cuts were taken. We are under an account, and that account is going to be cut. It’s very difficult,” he said.

CMS EHR Incentive Program Update – New Features Added

January 30th, 2012 Comments off

Calling 888-734-6433 will connect you to the CMS EHR Information Center Interactive Voice Response System (IVR) System.

The upgrades will enable EHR Incentive program participants to obtain information on the program easily and more efficiently. From the main menu, press 1 for Hot Topics and press 2 for Information on NPPES and PECOS password resets. There are 8 hot topics and 2 selections the NPPES and PECOS. The service is available 7/24 except during planned system maintenance. The TTY number is 888-734-6563. You can also speak to a specialist through this system also by pressing “0″. The hours of operation for the EHR Information Center are Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 6:30pm CST except federal holidays.

Along with changes to the IVR system, CMS has also updated information on the EHR Incentive Programs on their web site. You can find new information on the Attestation pages about the appeals process for the program. Appeals for Eligible Professionals, Eligible Hospitals, and CAHs have been accepted since last December. The CMS Office of Clinical Standards and Quality (OCSQ) is also providing guidance on how to file an appeal. Their Division of Health Information Technology is tasked with review of appeals. On January 19th the division released the first informal review decision for the EHR Incentive Program. CMS expects informal review and appeal decisions to be posted on their web site by February. And by March, providers will be able to find receive their decisions through an appeals portal.