Health Care Compliance Watch : New York Health Care Compliance Lawyer & Attorney : Ilana Sable : NY Physician Representation Law

Primary care practices (including family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine and OB/GYN) located in under-served NYC communities may be eligible to receive a $4,000.00 grant toward an eClinicalWorks EHR software package.  The grant is administered by the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in support of its Primary Care Information Project ("PCIP").

PCIP is a New York City grant program that was developed to promote "prevention-oriented EHR's" among providers who care for NYC's under-served and vulnerable populations.  Primary care practices that are eligible for, and receive, the EHR grant will be required to participate in certain quality improvement efforts, including quality reporting and linkage to public health information systems.

While the $4,000.00 grant money will not cover the entire cost of running an EHR based practice, it is enough to cover the initial conversion costs ( including eClinicalWorks EHR licensing, staff training and 2 years of maintenance and support).  In addition, by converting to EHR, primary care practices may become eligible for the financial incentives available under other government programs, including the ARRA.

eClinicalWorks EHR has recieved 2008 CCHIT certification (the most current certification offered by CCHIT) and, as with all other EHR software, it remains to be seen whether it will receive the upcoming CCHIT ARRA certification.

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The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology ("CCHIT"), a non-profit organization that independently certifies health information technology, has put together a preliminary ARRA certification criteria for EHR (pdf) that it believes will meet the requirements for receiving EHR financial incentives available under the ARRA.

Currently, CCHIT is the only Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") recognized certifying body.  As such, it will likely determine which EHR software will enable providers to make  "meaningful use" of their EHR when HHS publishes the final definition of  "meaningful use." When the definition is published, certification will be necessary for providers to receive the financial incentives available under the ARRA. 

The preliminary guide focuses on Ambulatory and In Patient EHR, and promises ongoing updates as more information becomes available. 

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Under the newly enacted Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Development Act (“HITECH Act”), which can be found under Title XIII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (pdf), providers are eligible to receive up to $44,000.00 in financial incentives for implementing an electronic health records system (“EHR” system) as early as 2011.

However, only providers using nationally certified EHR systems will be eligible for these financial incentives. As of today’s date, there are no nationally certified EHR systems, and no certification criteria has been named. Further, the HITECH Act only mandates that an initial set of standards for certification criteria be adopted by December 31, 2009. As such, it could be months before providers can purchase a nationally certified EHR system.

Nevertheless, providers should begin conducting their search for an EHR system as soon as possible. Today, there are a variety of EHR systems on the market, many of which incorporate practice management tools such as patient schedulers, accounting reports and electronic prescription submission into the software package. Demonstrations by sales representatives, as well as individual software testing, can take up to a few hours each time, so the sooner that providers begin researching and testing these EHR systems, the easier it will be to make a decision when the time to purchase an EHR system comes.

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