Electronic Medical Records
Why Comport?
Comport Consulting understands the use of an EMR is a drastic change to the operation of a physician's daily practice. Comport has identified the 5 major steps involved in an EMR implementation and has created a solution to make the transition as seamless and minimally invasive to a physician practice as possible.
1. EMR Software and Services
Comport has partnered with etransmedia who hosts and supports the Allscripts suite of EMR products across multiple data centers. The software can be hosted for you or you can host it on site, the choice is yours.
2. Hardware
Due to Comport's close relationship with HP, we will provide unmatched pricing for HP hardware and services necessary to operate the EMR.
3. Networking
Comport will not sell you software and hardware then leave the rest up to you. We will make sure that all your systems are up and running. Our data center expertise has created the knowledge to easily network offices if not done already.
4. Scanning Past Medical Records in the EMR
Comport has the ability to create a methodology that works for your practice as well as provide the labor force to scan documents into your EMR.
5. Training
Once your office is fully networked and ready to use the EMR, etransmedia will provide all the training to educate physicians and staff on how to utilize the EMR to gain the maximum benefits.
why Allscripts?
Not to mention the government incentives described in the next section, EMR's are an extremely useful tools that will improve the quality of patient care while saving great operational costs. Electronically streamline the management of records.
Clinical Functionality Features:
Patient History
Clinical Charting
Exam Notes
ePrescribing
Lab Orders and Results
Patient Follow-up
WHY NOW?
The time is now!
Government incentive available in 2009 and beyond have made the benefits of an EMR affordable to all physician practices both large and small.
On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. The health IT component of the Bill is the HITECH Act which appropriates $19.2 billion dollars to encourage healthcare organizations to adopt and effectively utilize Electronic Health Records (EHR).
HITECH Act
There are two incentive payment programs and each physician is to choice one to participate in.
There is a Medicare program which eligible providers can receive up to $44,000 as well as a Medicaid program that can pay up to $64,000.
1st Year of EMR Use |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
TOTAL |
2011 |
$18,000 |
$12,000 |
$8,000 |
$4,000 |
$2,000 |
$0 |
$44,000 |
2012 |
$0 |
$18,000 |
$12,000 |
$8,000 |
$4,000 |
$2,000 |
$44,000 |
2013 |
$0 |
$0 |
$15,000 |
$12,000 |
$8,000 |
$4,000 |
$39,000 |
2014 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$15,000 |
$8,000 |
$4,000 |
$35,000 |
2015 or Later |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
The incentives will be paid out over five years with the largest payments early in the program. The Medicare incentive payments begin in 2011; in order to receive the payments a “meaningful use” of the application must be demonstrated. Penalties begin in 2015 which will be assessed to your Medicare and Medicaid fee reimbursements if the EMR is not in full use.
Meaningful Use Requirement of the HITECH Act
The Act requires that physicians are able to demonstrate a meaningful use of the EMR.
Read more about meaningful use
CMS Incentive - Currently In Place
The Federal Government through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid System (CMS) currently has two (2) incentive programs that could reach values up to $6,000 to $8,000 per MD/year. The below chart is for the ePrescribing incentive.
Successful ePrescriber |
Incentive Payments |
2009 |
2% |
2010 |
2% |
2011 |
1% |
2012 |
1% |
2013 |
0.5% |
Notes:
- ePrescribing comes standard with the Allscripts EMR.
- Once a physician begins to receive the HITECH Act incentive they will not be allowed to receive CMS incentive funds.