Earlier this year, the Connecticut Medical Insurance Company (CMIC), a physician-owned medical malpractice insurer serving Connecticut and Massachusetts, announced the launch of the first malpractice premium credit available to Connecticut physicians.

The new credit is available to physicians using an electronic health record (EHR) certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT), a private, non-profit organization that has been recognized by the federal government as an official certification body for health information technology.

In order to be eligible for the program, physicians must meet underwriting and claims approval and be willing to participate in CMIC-approved risk management programs. The EHR must also be fully operational for at least one year.

Denise Funk, CEO of CMIC, says the program was developed because “a fully implemented EHR system reduces medical errors and increases efficiency and timeliness of care.”

The credit is just one of many new incentive programs being offered by medical malpractice insurance providers. In January 2007, for example, the CMIC, in a joint initiative with the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC), the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) and the Physicians Insurance Agency of Massachusetts (PIAM), offered Massachusetts physicians a similar credit.

Practices interested in receiving more information about this new EHR credit should call CMIC at (860) 633-7788. For more information about CCHIT-certified EHRs, contact us today. We can help you find an EHR solution that provides the tools necessary to help you achieve the requirements of malpractice insurance discounts.

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI – The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology today announced that gloStream’s product gloEMR version 5.0 is a CCHIT Certified 08 Ambulatory EHR additionally certified for Cardiovascular Medicine and Child Health and meets the Certification Commission’s electronic health record (EHR) criteria for office-based use. Ambulatory EHRs are designed for physician offices and clinics where most Americans get their healthcare. The Commission – a private, nonprofit organization – is the recognized certification body in the United States for certifying health information technology products.

Read more at Healthcare IT News

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. – (Business Wire) Apollo Health Street, a provider of world-class information technology to the nation’s healthcare organizations, and gloStream, an electronic medical record and practice management software provider, today announced a new partnership in which Apollo Health Street will make its services available to gloStream’s national network of technology partners. Apollo’s services are an additional option for gloStream partners who wish to supplement their support services.

“gloStream builds comprehensive and user-friendly EMR and PM applications for physicians, and we’re glad to collaborate with them to maximize the application’s capabilities for the physicians who rely on it,” said Dan Walsh, senior vice president of information technology for Apollo Health Street. “Our team of healthcare and IT experts will offer gloStream’s clients around-the-clock, cost-efficient support so that business processes and patient care continue uninterrupted.”

Apollo Health Street’s IT services offer a single point of contact for all technical support of gloStream’s products and solutions, which are the only ones on the market embedded with Microsoft Office®. Apollo Health Street has already begun support for two gloStream clients, including one in Rochester, NY.

“We’re constantly looking for unique strategic partners who can augment our resellers’ offerings,” said Mike Sappington, gloStream’s chief executive officer. “Apollo offers a robust set of support options that can help our channel provide even more value to the physicians they serve.”

“Smart EMR and PM technology is increasingly critical to the healthcare industry, and we are eager to work with gloStream to make an already-excellent product work even better for healthcare industry leaders and clinicians across the country,” added Andrew DeVoe, chief executive officer for Apollo Health Street.

About gloStream

gloStream provides physicians and healthcare facilities with certified electronic medical record and practice management solutions delivered and supported through a nationwide network of local technology partners. gloStream products are secure, easy-to-use applications and the only solutions on the market embedded with Microsoft Office. Through a simple user interface, robust voice recognition technology, and single-click access to all patient information, gloStream products help doctors improve patient care by streamlining workflow and creating efficiencies in office administration. For more information, visit www.glostream.com or call 1-877-456-3671.

About Apollo Health Street

Apollo Health Street partners with hospitals and healthcare organizations across the country to achieve healthcare’s True Return. Enhancing our clients’ team and resources, Apollo Health Street develops tailor-made, world-class solutions to tackle the financial and IT challenges faced by the nation’s hospitals, physician groups and healthcare payers. Our solutions combine award-winning customer service with healthcare domain expertise, sophisticated technology and global resources. The result is a strengthened bottom line to offer excellent patient care today and tomorrow. Apollo Health Street provides customized payer, hospital, physician, IT and strategic support services to more than 170 healthcare partners throughout the nation. Headquartered outside Philadelphia, Apollo Health Street has seven operational centers of excellence strategically located throughout the United States. For more information about Apollo Health Street call 1-800-350-5781 or visit www.apollohealthstreet.com.

Medicaid incentives payments for EHR use are one step closer to reality.

On September 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a letter to state Medicaid directors announcing that:

• The CMS will reimburse states for payments they make to health care providers under the federal health IT stimulus program.

• State Medicaid agencies can immediately apply for 90 percent in federal matching funds to cover the planning that will be required to launch health IT incentive payment systems.

The letter is the first formal direction CMS has provided state Medicaid agencies about how to manage the millions of dollars in incentive payments that will flow to health care practices under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

As most physicians know by now, the ARRA provides incentives payments for physicians who can demonstrate “meaningful use” of an electronic health record by 2011.

There are two incentive programs: one for Medicare providers and one for Medicaid providers. If you provide both Medicare and Medicaid services, you must choose one of the incentive programs based on your qualifications and the benefits provided.

Please contact us with any questions or for more information. We can help you find an EHR solution that provides the tools necessary to help you achieve the requirements of the ARRA.

Related article:

The letter to state Medicaid directors

As most physicians know by now, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provides incentive payments for physicians who treat Medicare patients.

Physicians are not required to treat a minimum number of Medicare patients in order to be eligible for the incentive payments. However, there is a cap on the total EHR incentive available to physicians.

The cap is based on 75% of the allowable Medicare charges for the physician, not to exceed total payments of $44,000 ($48,000 for physicians who practice in a professional shortage area).

So, physicians with lower Medicare volumes may be eligible for a smaller amount.

To clarify, for example, in 2011, the first payment to those physicians who meaningfully using a qualified, certified EHR is $18,000. Therefore, a Medicare provider who charges $24,000 (or more) in Medicare allowable charges is eligible for the $18,000 payment in 2011 (because 75% of $24,000 is $18,000).

Here is the entire flow for all stimulus payments:

Please contact us with any questions or for more information. We can help you find an EHR solution that provides the tools necessary to help you achieve the requirements of the ARRA.

gloStream is very proud to have gained this certification, and we’re
equally proud that we have achieved full CCHIT certification in 06, 07
and 08 – every year that certification has been offered. This a
significant milestone that clearly demonstrates our commitment to
developing products that have me the highest standards for
functionality, security and interoperability.

Read more at HealthcareITNews.com

Seventy-five percent of physicians still haven’t installed an electronic medical record (EMR)—despite financial incentives do do so.

One reason may be the enormity of choosing from the hundreds of EMR solutions on the market. You want a solution that will meet industry standards—and is built on technology guaranteed to be around many years from now.

Now there is such a solution from gloStream called gloEMR™. It’s unique in that it’s built on Microsoft Office (in particular, Microsoft Word). Features include:

• Single-click access to all patient information
• Voice recognition
• Electronic prescribing
• Nationwide local support

To learn more, listen to a 20-minute audio-cast featuring two physicians using gloEMR™ as well as gloStream CEO Mike Sappington and Microsoft’s Stuart Post.

A new video describing the product is also available.

Related articles:

A Contemporary and Intuitive EMR Solution Built on Microsoft Office

Finally, a step forward in the vague standards regarding electronic medical records (EMRs): A government agency has created “meaningful use” recommendations.

To be reimbursed for the installation of EMRs under Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), medical professionals must use a “certified” EMR in a “meaningful” way.

To this point, however, exactly what “meaningful” meant has been up for debate—and without a definition, medical professionals had two unappealing choices: wait to buy an EMR, or buy an EMR not knowing if it would meet future standards.

Now, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology has made recommendations regarding meaningful use criteria. E-prescribing, checking for drug-to-drug interactions, and maintaining an updated problem list are among them.

Physicians must also use these features in their practice on a daily basis to show meaningful use of their EMR system.

There’s still a long road ahead: The recommendations must be approved by David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health IT, after which they will be submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Then, CMS will use these recommendations to make the final meaningful use rules, which are due in December.

This news makes it safer for medical professionals to implement EHRs now, provided that you use a reputable vendor. Larger vendors have the resources to upgrade their products as necessary to meet meaningful use criteria. In fact, many are assuring customers they’ll make any necessary changes, and some are offering money-back guarantees if they don’t.

President Obama is talking a lot about how the U.S. health care system needs to be modernized—and one company helping modernize it is gloStream, which offers the only electronic medical record (EMR) on the market embedded with Microsoft Office.

EMRs allow health care providers to exchange information electronically. They can look up patient records, prescribe drugs, maintain statistical data, and more—all with the click of a mouse.

gloStream’s EMR has a simple user interface that utilizes voice recognition technology and offers single-click access to all patient data—which in turn helps health care professionals work more efficiently and safely.

Plus, it has the support of Microsoft: Its utilization of Microsoft technology (including Microsoft Office) offers health care professionals an EMR that is secure, reliable, customizable, and affordable.

Health care professionals won’t want to waste time implementing an EMR such as gloStream’s. Those who do so soon are eligible to receive as much as $64,000 in incentives per professional, thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. Late adaptors, on the other hand, may have their fee schedules reduced.

gloStream’s EMR is delivered and supported through a nationwide network of local technology partners. Give us a call and we’ll help you explore ways this technology can help your company grow.

Related articles:

http://microsoftstartupzone.com/blogs/rodney_bowen-wright/default.aspx

http://techstartups.blogspot.com/2009/05/glostream-raises-75-million-series-b.html

http://www.newsrx.com/print.php?prID=3138

http://twitter.com/glostream

SPECIAL REPORT

ABSTRACT

Background: Electronic health records have the potential to improve the delivery of health care services. However, in the United States, physicians have been slow to adopt such systems. This study assessed physicians’ adoption of outpatient electronic health records, their satisfaction with such systems, the perceived effect of the systems on the quality of care, and the perceived barriers to adoption.

Methods: In late 2007 and early 2008, we conducted a national survey of 2758 physicians, which represented a response rate of 62%. Using a definition for electronic health records that was based on expert consensus, we determined the proportion of physicians who were using such records in an office setting and the relationship between adoption and the characteristics of individual physicians and their practices.

Results: Four percent of physicians reported having an extensive, fully functional electronic-records system, and 13% reported having a basic system. In multivariate analyses, primary care physicians and those practicing in large groups, in hospitals or medical centers, and in the western region of the United States were more likely to use electronic health records. Physicians reported positive effects of these systems on several dimensions of quality of care and high levels of satisfaction. Financial barriers were viewed as having the greatest effect on decisions about the adoption of electronic health records.

Conclusions: Physicians who use electronic health records believe such systems improve the quality of care and are generally satisfied with the systems. However, as of early 2008, electronic systems had been adopted by only a small minority of U.S. physicians, who may differ from later adopters of these systems.

• Read the full report and supplements at The New England Journal of Medicine…