$21 Billion Spent On Incentive Payments
Eligible healthcare professionals making progress, 90 percent of eligible hospitals have received EHR incentive payment
Approximately 90 percent of eligible hospitals have received an EHR incentive payment, according to official figures announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at HIMSS14. Healthcare IT News reports Elizabeth Holland, Director of Health IT Incentives Group, said, "In total, over 340,000 Medicare and Medicaid EPs have received an EHR incentive payment, and nearly $21 billion has been paid out.”
Healthcare IT News further writes, “That's an impressive amount, but, (Holland) cautioned that the agency is aware of it fiduciary responsibility" before quoting her as saying, "We've done a lot of post-pay audits. Now our audits have been shifted to be pre-pays."
A second Healthcare IT News article notes a plan is in place to refine the payment process. “ONC and CMS officials are talking about aligning incentives at some point in the future.” It quotes national coordinator Karen DeSalvo as saying HHS is “working to harmonize its various programs to create a more seamless and streamlined way to capture the info necessary for value-based payment and ACO.”
Healthcare IT News further writs, "ONC is not alone is making clarification efforts. Robert Tagalicod, director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Office of eHealth Standards and Services said … that CMS is unveiling the eHealth University,” which, “In addition to initiatives in accountable care, meaningful use, ICD-10, and value based purchasing ... includes provider-centric resources for administrative simplification and physician quality reporting."
There is a Security Risk Analysis Tipsheet for Protecting Patient's Health Information listed on CMS.gov. It goes over guidelines that health care providers should follow in order to protect PHI. According to the tip sheet, "Under the HIPPA Security Rule, you are required to conduct an accurate and thorough analysis of the potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI." Since most PHI is stored electronically in these modern times, there is a very real risk of a security breach, so extra measures should be put in place to ensure this does not happen.
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