The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has detailed the terms for FFP (Federal Financial Participation) of up to 90% matched funds.
Three requirements must be met in order to be eligible for FFP matched funds:
1. Administration of Medicaid incentive payments to Medicaid EPs and eligible hospitals;
2. Oversight of the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, including routine tracking of meaningful use attestations and reporting mechanisms;
3. Pursuit of initiatives that encourage the adoption of certified EHR technology for the promotion of health care quality and the electronic exchange of health information.
The full text of the letter sent to Medicaid Administrators for your state is located on the CMS website.
Bradford Scott Medical has a great suite of products that will help your practice meet these requirements; Intergy by Sage Practice Management & EHR Software. Contact us today for more information or to set up a demonstration.
As a women's health provider, you face two unique sets of challenges... You are responsible for everything from long-term preventive care to managing acute and chronic health conditions. At the same time, you are required to document and analyze visit information to track pregnancy progress and manage risk. Intergy EHR by Sage, in conjunction with Intergy by Sage practice management, provides the tools you need to help you manage your business and care for your patients more effectively.Contact us today for more information or to schedule your free consultation.
My husband and I own a 109 year old house that we are restoring. Our current project is windows, insulation, and new siding. This is a huge undertaking, but it is actually going fairly well. We bought 16 new windows this spring to do the project. I made sure that they were Energy Star qualified so we would qualify for the $1500 credit. Well...... completing the paperwork for my Tax credit I find that the windows are .001 UVFR away from qualifying for the credit. Lesson learned, make sure you qualify before purchasing!
Point of the story is dealing with the requirements for tax credits can be tricky. So when you are implementing an EMR System and Electronic Prescribing Software, be sure to fully understand Meaningful Use and all requirements for receiving your EMR Stimulus money.
Bradford-Scott Data Corp not only keeps up-to-date with the changes in Meaningful Use and what that means to our practices, but we also provide a guide to let you know what Meaningful Use means to you. What Electronic Medical Records Features are required for you to qualify as a EHR Systems user and qualify for the stimulus money!
This has been a week of running. My daughter's first cross country meet of the year was last Saturday. My son's first cross country meet ever was Wednesday. And I ran nearly 10 miles this week.
What else has been running this week? Bradford-Scott. Even though we've had 6-10 service reps in Sage Intergy training all week, we've kept support running on all cylinders, including:
Full phone support staff supporting over 200 Intergy, MENDS, and Navigator customers
Training staff visiting a pediatrics Intergy customer for a review
Update to Intergy v6.0 for one of our largest Intergy medical software Kentucky clients
Electronic health records upgrade for a Pediatrics EMR customer
No rest for the wicked. Bradford-Scott is running to service our customers all the time, and so am I. Now excuse me as I run off to happy hour!
Everybody wants to know just how early they can get their ARRA EHR stimulus money so let's take a look.... Considering that you already have a "certified EHR" and you have been showing "meaningful use" of it for 90 days, here's what you may be able to expect...
Medicaid - When it comes to Medicaid, it is up to each state to determine how they will pay out the ARRA EHR stimulus money. Sure, some will most likely try to keep it as to close to the Medicare model as possible, but we'd be silly to thinkthat some states wouldn't go in a completely different direction.
Medicare - The earliest that we'll see Medicare ARRA EHR stimulus money is in the spring of 2011. Remember, you have to prove "meaningful use" of your "certified EHR" for a minimum of 90 days to receive the incentives.
So what does this mean for you? If you are going after Medicare payments, and you want your first check of $18,000 as early as spring 2011, you need to purchase, implement, fully train and be using your new EHR by fall 2010. If you want to have that done, you need to be purchasing now. It will take months to install and train you for EHR, and there are already lines forming. So what are you waiting for?
Sage Intergy EHR V5.5 is CCHIT 2008 certified and is designed to complement the clinical approach of your practice. With the local presence of Bradford-Scott Data Corporation to ensure you get the proper hand holding needed and the national backing of Sage Software to continue to keep this product on the leading edge of technology; this is a duo that is untouched.
The latest Intergy EHR release focuses on maximizing clinical connectivity in order to optimize your patient’s experience and enhance your bottom line. Intergy EHR does this by touching every aspect of your practice, from enhancing patient care to maximizing billing procedures.
Guideline-driven care for preventive measures and treatments protocols
Advanced clinical flow-sheets provide a view of a patient’s progress and treatment effectiveness
ePrescribing enhances accuracy and provides interaction alerts
Orders & Tasks allow you to easily create and track orders such as mammograms, blood tests, etc.
Drug Utilization Review (DUR) On Demand and ePrescribing provide you instant access to drug interaction information
Clinical record summary for Interoperability improves efficiency by sharing information
One of the coolest features in Bradford-Scott's EMR System is the Flowsheets screen. We can customize your EMR system to show the items that you wish to track and also group them together based on condition that you are trying to monitor.
Here are some of the features:
Customize list of vitals, findings, and lab results to show on the patients flowchart. in the Patient Records System.
Graphing- Display a visual graph of the change in a component of the flowsheet over time. You can graph one item or several items together.
Medication Duration- The screen will display the medications that the patient is taking in comparison to the items that you are tracking in your flowsheet. This will quickly show the provider how the medication is affecting the patients findings.
Growth Chart- There is a built in growth chart that will plot and child's height and weight automatically.
Flowsheets are just another great feature in Electronic Medical Records that will make it easier for providers to care for their patients.
This week the shoe is on the other foot. Bradford-Scott is lucky to have an incredibly talented trainer from Sage training us on some very advanced subjects relating to Intergy.
Some of the things we're learning will enhance our technical knowledge of the inner workings of Sage Intergy and Sage Intergy EHR. Some of the training topics have included:
Database recovery and restoration (rebuild from a serious crash)
Document Delivery Service, including faxing, transcription, RIS, etc.
Medcin database, ShipPlan (default insurance plan information)
Terminal services setup and administration
Bradford-Scott Data Corporation is committed to giving its customers the best service and support in the industry. By deepening our knowledge of the product, our Sage Intergy and Sage Intergy EHR customers will continue to receive A+ support!
As technology advances for physicians with EHR Software, it also advances for patients. We live in a world of laptops and smart phones. May people prefer to communicate by e-mail than by telephone.
Our Intergy by Sage EHR Software offers a feature call Practice Portal. The Practice Portal facilitates the patient/provider “connection” by giving patients access to a wide array of online information and services through secure, online communications. Your patients can:
Receive General Practice Information
Request an Appointment
Request a Prescription Refill
Submit New Patient Registration Forms and Pre-Visit Questionnaires
View their lab results, immunization data, medications, health conditions, and more
In addition to these features you can reduce staff phone time by exchanging real-time, secure email messages with patients instead of phone calls. For more information about our Intergy by Sage Practice Portal and how it works with our Intergy EHR Software, contact Bradford Scott Data Corporation. We will be happy to set up an EHR Demo for you to see how our products can help your practice.
This week at Bradford-Scott we have a Technical Trainer in to provide additional training on our EMR System and Medical Software System. There are some things we already know and some things that are new to us. It is important to continuously educate yourself on your systems for there might be something that makes your job easier!
Continuing Education is important to our Electronic Health Records, and Medical Software System clients. Bradford-Scott Data Corp provides free classes that can either be attended in a webinar or classroom environment. These classes cover different areas of the software systems. This allows you to take courses on areas that are most needed.
I have a Medical Software client that attends a basic overall training session once a year. This person leaves the class with something new each time. She says that she will continue to come once a year because she has found so many shortcuts that make her day to day tasks easier.
Times are changing and technology for medical practices is changing toward EMR Adoption. Some physicians are embracing this head on, while other are more hesitant to take the first step. Well, now is the time to take the plunge and consider EMR Adoption for your practice for many different reasons:
Supported EM Coding using a built in E&M Calculator.
EHR Stimulus Money is waiting for you!
Convenience of having all your patient medical records at your fingertips.
DUR review to notify you of any drug interactions that may occur.
Paperless Electronic Patient Charting.
Backing of the Medcin Database.
E-Prescribing
Integrated product with Medical Insurance Billing Software.
Bradford Scott Data Corporation offers Intergy by Sage EMR and Medical Office Billing Software. In addition to a fabulous product, we can also offer you the VERY best customer service around. To schedule an EMR Demo for your practice, contact us at Bradford Scott Medical.
75% of the public supports the movement of electronic health records, but will the technology really make us safer? Here are my top 5 favorite reasons for thinking that they will....
Less trips to the doctor's office - When we can email our doctors instead of having to set appointments for every little thing, like a prescription refill, we will be saving time and money! Less time taken off of work, less money spent in gas, and less time spent waiting in the lobby will always be positives in my book.
Access to your medical records on vacation - With EHR technology being rapidly embraced, it's just a matter of time before doctors and hospitals will be able to share our medical records. If I'm off getting married in Vegas, and I need to seek medical attention, my doctor from the Hoosier state can send my info with a touch of a button. I don't know about you, but I don't like having to re-take tests and blood work if I don't have to!
No more leaving messages and calling back for lab results - How many times have you called for your results, only to be told to call back later? Wouldn't it be nice if we could just log on and see the results for ourselves? Very nice!
No more hauling X-rays and medical files - If we are referred to a specialist, that physician will need our past records, tests, and/or X-rays. But what id they could just retrieve them like a digital picture? No more sorting through papers, waiting for faxes, or hauling them yourself.
Prescriptions - When prescriptions are transmitted electronically, the system automatically checks for interactions and correct dosage. Do you go to more then one doctor for more than one reason? Now you don't have to worry if the pharmacist will catch it. Electronic prescriptions have saved millions already, and the doctor gets a kick-back right now from Medicare, what's not to love?
If your physician is not taking advantage of electronic health records, it's time for you to ask why. With the ARRA(Stimulus) incentives that are available, it has never been a better time to make a move.
This week I had a training session on Tuesday evening from 5-7pm on our Electronic Medical Records Software program. Bradford-Scott offers training times during the day and in the evenings to give your practice time to learn the EMR System and not interfere with your patient load. The training session was covering the Provider Desktop and Patient Charting. These are two areas of our EMR product that will be used daily by the clinical staff and providers.
The Provider Desktop consists of the providers schedule, Open Task, Open Encounters, and Open Orders. Our EMR System starts the provider out on this screen as a snapshot of all the items they would typically want to monitor.
Patient Charting was the next topic covered. There are many items in this area required to receive Medicare Incentives. Tabs represent different areas of the patients chart. Much like the tabs that are in your paper chart. Except these are items are easy to read and update. There is no need to dig around the chart in search of a document, everything is properly stored under it's specific tab as it is entered in the system.
The training session went well the doctors were more than thrilled with the Health Maintenance Screen. He quoted that to be his favorite screen of the system so far!
A few years ago you could mention the acronym EMR and nobody knew what you were talking about. Today you mention EMR and everybody knows what it is, and it does not matter if you are speaking with a medical professional or patient. So what is the point of EMR and how can you benefit from implementing your Electronic Medical Records System?
Electronic Medical Records are used to create better tracking and reporting on patient care to ultimately allow providers to better care for their patients. One of the major features is the Health Maintenance piece. This feature will automatically put the patient in a preventative group of health guidelines based on age and sex. It will also apply a set of care condition guidelines based on the patients problem list.
The doctor is reminded of these care guidelines every time a patent's chart is accessed. As these guidelines are satisfied they will be removed from the list until they are due again. This feature is key to ensure that your patients are being treated for everything that is needed for them individually.
There are many other features of Electronic Medical Records that provide better care to patients. Health Maintenance is just one many. Contact Bradford-Scott Data Corp for more information.
Bradford-Scott Data Corporation is attending the IMGMA Fall Conference!!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Renaissance Indianapolis North 11925 N. Meridian St, Carmel, IN
We'll be there to answer your questions about stimulus and EHR (electronic health records), and help you choose the correct solutions for your practice!! Make sure to stop by!! Questions of Today: "To Use or Not to Use?" "To Integrate or Not to Integrate?" To Implement or Not to Implement?"
Tonight we're going to our first Symphony on the Prairie. It's Michael Jackson night, so not only do we get to see a fantastic orchestra playing MJ songs, there is also a professional MJ impersonator singing. My kids are both violin players and my son is a big MJ fan, so it should be a good time. Oh, and did I mention you can bring beverages in?
A successful symphony relies on many individual people and instruments working together. Bradford-Scott Data Corporation has been successful for similar reasons. Our Intergy, Intergy EHR, MENDS, and Navigator customers' success depends on us working together. As a value added reseller, we have team members that provide training, consulting, programming, system administration, network administration, hardware support, and hardware repair.
Bradford-Scott's best-in-class service and support keeps getting better. We work together to orchestrate the finest solutions for our customers. To find out how Bradford-Scott can provide you with Intergy electronic health records and practice management, contact us through this blog.
For years I've been hearing about the CMS Incentive program being available as Medicare Incentives and Medicaid Incentives. But until today I didn't know how those would be allocated. Healthimaging.com's article, "CMS webinar: Eligible professionals can expect EHR incentives in 2011" states that the ARRA rules define differences between the two programs.
While the Medicare incentive program is run on a federal level by CMS, the Medicaid incentive program is run at a state level and is voluntary. The definitions of eligible professionals vary as well. The programs define them as follows:
Physician assistants working in a federally qualified health center (FQHC) or rural health clinic (RHC) that is also led by a physician assistant.
For more information about the ARRA Program and how it may affect your office, check out the links above or visit the Bradford-Scott website to learn more.
An article at www.healthimaging.com says that during a CMS webinar on 8/8/10, it was stated that eligible health care professionals can receive incentives in 2011. Just buying electronic health records does not guarantee CMS incentive payments; meaningful use must be demonstrated.
Here are the three main objectives when defining meaningful use:
Use of certified EHR in a meaningful manner (e.g.,e-prescribing);
Use of certified EHR technology for electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of health care; and
Use of certified EHR technology to submit clinical quality measures (CQM) and other such measures selected by the Secretary.
Bradford-Scott is proud to offer Sage Intergy EHR to help you on your way to fulfilling meaningful use requirements. We'll be with you throughout every step of your EHR adoption. For more information or for an EHR demo, call 317-713-2065.
This week has been the hottest week yet this summer. Temps are in the 90s and heat index is in the 100s! My kids are both in cross country and they've had to run in some very warm temperatures. So far I've run each evening this week and I plan to do it again tonight. It's a great way to lose weight (or pass out)!
It's been a hot summer for Bradford-Scott Data Corporation as well. Sales of Sage Intergy v6.0 and Sage Intergy EHR have been coming in at record levels. The 'big board' where we keep track of new clients, data conversions, and electronic health records implementations is full. It's not uncommon for our service and support staff to be working with multiple new customers.
If you haven't joined the Intergy revolution yet, there's still time. We've got the products you need, but even more importantly, we've got the best service and support in the Midwest. Click the links for more information, or to see a practice management or EHR demo, reply to this blog.
One of the most powerful features of Sage Intergy and Sage Intergy EHR is one you may never see. Built in to both of the Intergy products is the Remote Monitoring System (RMS). RMS is a powerful program that monitors your server and software for system health.
RMS provides the following advantages:
Monitors system resources
Monitors system performance
Ensures regular backups
Delivers upgrades to system
Want more? RMS emails us here Bradford-Scott any time a problem is detected with your backup or system performance. We know before you do! For more information on Sage Intergy or RMS, contact us via this blog or at 317-713-2065.
My husband and I own a 109 year old house that we are restoring. Our current project is windows, insulation, and new siding. This is a huge undertaking, but it is actually going fairly well. We bought 16 new windows this spring to do the project. I made sure that they were Energy Star qualified so we would qualify for the $1500 credit. Well...... completing the paperwork for my Tax credit I find that the windows are .001 UVFR away from qualifying for the credit. Lesson learned, make sure you qualify before purchasing!
As technology advances for physicians with EHR Software, it also advances for patients. We live in a world of laptops and smart phones. May people prefer to communicate by e-mail than by telephone. 
Times are changing and technology for medical practices is changing toward EMR Adoption. Some physicians are embracing this head on, while other are more hesitant to take the first step. Well, now is the time to take the plunge and consider EMR Adoption for your practice for many different reasons:
This week I had a training session on Tuesday evening from 5-7pm on our Electronic Medical Records Software program. 
Tonight we're going to our first Symphony on the Prairie. It's Michael Jackson night, so not only do we get to see a fantastic orchestra playing MJ songs, there is also a professional MJ impersonator singing. My kids are both violin players and my son is a big MJ fan, so it should be a good time. Oh, and did I mention you can bring beverages in?
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