At the Forefront of Healthcare Transformation 

 ILHITREC Interchange Newsletter 
May 2019
             

Register for ILHITREC's Upcoming   
Webinars on Medicaid Promoting
Interoperability Program Measures       
 
2019 Health Information  
Exchange Objective
 
Tuesday, June 11, noon-1 pm (CDT):  
 
What You'll Learn:
  • Discuss the changes to the 2019 requirements for this objective
  • Review strategies and best practices to successfully meet the measures
  • Examine exclusions available to Eligible Professionals
REGISTER NOW  
FOR JUNE 11 WEBINAR!
 
    Registry Reporting Objective
    Public Health & Clinical Data         
      
     Tuesday, July 16, noon-1 pm (CDT):  
 
     What You'll Learn:
  • Discuss the elements and definitions of the 2019 Public Health & Clinical Data Registry Reporting Objective
  • Review strategies and best practices to successfully meet the measures
  • Examine exclusion available to Eligible Professionals
 
After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with instructions about joining each Webinar on the scheduled dates. Questions? Contact us at info@ILHITREC.org.  
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Webinar Replays Offer Critical Information on PI Program

If you missed ILHITREC's recent Webinars about the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program Measures,  you can listen to the recordings or download the PowerPoint Presentations in PDF format. 
2019 Patient Electronic Access  
& Patient Education
 
Presentation April 17, 2019 Covered: 
  • Requirements for meeting this NEW measure for 2019 and any exclusions available to Medicaid providers. 
  • Best practices from other Illinois practices on how to meet this measure.
  • New ways to meet this objective and changes from previous year.
     2019 Coordination of Care  
     through Patient Engagement
 
       Presentation May 14, 2019 Covered:
  • The requirements for meeting this NEW measure for 2019 and any exclusions available to providers.
     
  • Strategies to engage your patients in the use of the patient portal including entering patient-generated health data.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires that all eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) use 2015 Edition certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT) to meet the requirements of the Promoting Interoperability Programs. CMS mandates downward payment adjustments be applied to eligible hospitals and CAHs that are not meaningful users of CEHRT. Eligible hospitals and CAHs may be exempt from Medicare penalties if they can show that compliance with the requirement for being a meaningful EHR user would result in a significant hardship. To be considered for an exemption, eligible hospitals and CAHs must complete a hardship exception application and provide proof of hardship.
The application for eligible hospitals and CAHs is now available online as a web-based application and can be found here.  READ THE FULL STORY 
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Updated 2019 Medicaid Specification Sheets
 
CMS has updated its Promoting Interoperability Programs webpages to include program year 2019 information and details:
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CMS Advances Interoperability & Patient Access  
to Health Data through New Proposals
 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed policy changes supporting its MyHealthEData initiative to improve patient access and advance electronic data exchange and care coordination throughout the healthcare system. The Interoperability and Patient Access Proposed Rule outlines opportunities to make patient data more useful and transferable through open, secure, standardized, and machine-readable formats while reducing restrictive burdens on healthcare providers. In addition to the policy proposals, CMS is releasing two Requests for Information (RFIs) to obtain feedback on interoperability and health information technology (health IT) adoption in Post-Acute Care (PAC) settings, and the role of patient matching in interoperability and improved patient care. For more information, visit the   CMS website.
   
About Support Provided by ILHITREC
The Illinois Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (ILHITREC), under contract with the Illinois Department of Health and Family Services (HFS), is providing education, outreach, EHR, and Meaningful Use support to Medicaid providers for the Promoting Interoperability Program. Contact us at info@ILHITREC.org.