Comments on: HITECH Act: Reimbursement Schedule a Challenge

By: Dianne Conrad

Dianne Conrad — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:32:27 +0000

As a Family Nurse Practitioner I was dismayed that Nurse Practitioners are excluded from the Medicare eligible provider definition for incentives in the HITECH Act. However, we can submit comments on the proposed regulations until March 15, 2010. The current regulations include Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives as eligible providers for only Medicaid incentives for use of Electronic Health Records. Currently only physicians, dentists, podiatrists and chiropractors are listed as eligible providers in the Medicare portion of the program. The following is taken from the proposed rules on the CMS website.

Subpart B—Requirements Specific to

the Medicare Program

§ 495.100 Definitions.

In this subpart unless otherwise

indicated—

Eligible professional (EP) means a

physician as defined in section 1861(r)

of the Act, which includes all of the

following types of professionals:

(1) A doctor of medicine or

osteopathy.

(2) A doctor of dental surgery or

medicine.

(3) A doctor of podiatric medicine.

(4) A doctor of optometry.

(5) A chiropractor.

Subpart D—Requirements Specific to

the Medicaid Program

§ 495.304 Medicaid provider scope and

eligibility.

(a) General rule. The following

Medicaid providers are eligible to

participate in the HIT incentives

program:

(b) Medicaid EP. The Medicaid

professional eligible for a EHR incentive

payment is limited to the following:

(1) A physician.

(2) A dentist.

(3) A certified nurse-midwife.

(4) A nurse practitioner.

(5) A physician assistant practicing in

a Federally Qualified Health Center or

Rural Health Clinic, which is so led by

a physician assistant.

I urge you to assess the website and submit your comments regarding changing the “eligible providers” rule to include advanced practice nurses in the Medicare portion of the incentives for use of Electronic Health Records. Please access the site below before March 15 to influence inclusion of advanced practice nurses by using the online public comments for this policy.

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480a7c4a8

By: Electronic Health Record Incentives and a chat with the CEO of MDcohort | iMedicalApps

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:53:53 +0000

[...] table from Chilmark Research Newsadoption standards of EHR, electronic health record incentives, Electronic medical [...]

By: Blumenthal Beats HITECH Drum « Chilmark Research

Blumenthal Beats HITECH Drum « Chilmark Research — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:04:03 +0000

[...] 80% of care actually occurs. For smaller practices that do not serve a large CMS population, the reimbursement of $44k/physician does not pay. The incentives, frankly, are not the powerful tool that Blumenthal claims they are for a [...]

By: John

John — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:25:42 +0000

Rachel,
The legislation of the HITECH Act only references physicians, thus only licenses sold to a physician qualify for reimbursement.

This, in our opinion is unfortunate as in many practices, the nurses are the true power users of the EHR.

By: Rachel Mandel

Rachel Mandel — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:28:36 +0000

Does the incentive per physician also include other providers such as NPs? If I have to license my NP for use of the EHR, does she qualify for the payment?

By: AMA Explanations of the HIT Provisions in the ARRA | The Redlog Blog

AMA Explanations of the HIT Provisions in the ARRA | The Redlog Blog — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:29:42 +0000

[...] Chilmark Medicare Reimbursement Schedule [...]

By: Meaningful Use Hits the Streets Tomorrow… « Chilmark Research

Meaningful Use Hits the Streets Tomorrow… « Chilmark Research — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:24:53 +0000

[...] First post (Feb 16, 2009) when meaningful use issue was raised in context of overall ARRA. [...]

By: John

John — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:32:24 +0000

Ravi,
ARRA funding to reimburse physicians for EHR adoption is being managed through CMS and yes, a physician will need to demonstrate that they indeed serve this patient base. Slightly different terms for each. As I recall, for the higher Medicaid reimbursement, need to have at least 30% of patients receiving some form of Medicaid assistance.

By: ravi

ravi — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:35:12 +0000

Thank you for providing information on meaningful use of EHR’s and how money will reimbursed to the provided. what i was wondering is what happens to a provider who has already implemented or very sonn will be implementing “meaningful EHR” but do not support either medicare or medicaid. how do they get reimbursed? any light on this issue would be helpful.

By: ChiroPulse365 Chiropractic Software Blog » Facts about EMR/EHR Electronic Health Records & Stimulus Plan HITECH Act

Fri, 29 May 2009 20:54:55 +0000

[...] Hitech Act Chilmark Research summary & possible reimbursement schedule – click here [...]