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

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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As noted in a previous post, only providers using nationally certified EHR systems will be eligible for the financial incentives available under the ARRA.  Currently, there are no nationally certified EHR systems, and no certification criteria has been named.

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (“CCHIT”), a recognized certification body for electronic health records (“EHR”), has submitted its proposed EHR certification criteria(pdf), which maps the requirements of an ARRA qualified EHR, to the HIT Standards Committee for review and approval.  CCHIT anticipates feedback on the proposed certification criteria by August 26, 2009, and will begin accepting applications from EHR vendors shortly after receiving the anticipated “green light.”

CCHIT has already named many EHR vendors as “CCHIT Certified 08,” but this certification does not have any connection to the national certification required under the ARRA, and does not guarantee eligibility for the financial incentives.
 

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The most common question posed by private medical practices concerning the incentive payments available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA") goes something along the lines of: "how do you actually get the money"? 

Well, as you can imagine, the government won't just mail you a check.  Non-hospital based providers will be eligible to receive up to $44,000.00 in bonus payments from Medicare, over an above the allowed Medicare charges.  The incentive payments will either be broken down into several partial payments throughout the calender year, or they will be paid in a lump sum; the technicalities are yet to be worked out.

However, in order to be eligible for the incentive payments, providers must make "meaningful use" of their EHR software.  “Meaningful use” is not specifically defined in the ARRA, but the ARRA does give the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) advisory guidance regarding how to determine its meaning.

On April 29, 2009, the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, the key advisory panel to HHS on Health Information Technology, held a two-day hearing on "meaningful use" of EHR systems.  To date, no determination as to the definition of "meaningful use" has been made, but an HHS rulemaking determining its statutory definition is expected this year.

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