Our column in Government Health IT on RECs and HIT contracts

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Steve Fox and Vadim Schick

Government Health IT published a column by Steve Fox and yours truly on the critical role Regional Extension Centers (RECs) can and should play in distributing best practices regarding contracting for health IT systems, including EHRs.  Via Government Health IT:

RECs have the potential to serve as a valuable resource, especially for remote and underserved paper-based primary practices. However, RECs could be doing a disservice to physicians by failing to advise or provide them with essential EMR contract negotiation skills.

With HITECH Act incentives expiring in just a few years, healthcare providers will likely get only one chance to qualify for the full amount of the incentive payments. Thus, successful implementation and operation of an EMR system by the selected health IT vendor becomes critical to each healthcare organization trying to achieve “meaningful use” and take advantage of the incentive program.

In this environment, strong and effective contracts between healthcare providers and health IT vendors is especially significant, because such agreements can provide adequate protections, safeguards and other rights for the provider-customer, in the event a vendor defaults or otherwise fails to perform to the provider’s satisfaction.

You can read the full column by clicking here.

 

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In the news: Senators request easing of meaningful use requirements; HHS releases over $267M for RECs; and more

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Steve Fox and Vadim Schick
  • A group of 37 U.S. Senators sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius expressing concern regarding the current definition of meaningful use.  The senators urged the Secretary to "allow providers to 'temporarily defer a limited set of IT goals' without otherwise changing the ultimate timeline or requirements of the program."  The senators also sought to change the eligibility determination based on Medicare provider numbers, considering many healthcare providers have multiple medical campuses under one such Medicare number.  According to Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), such changes would "improve the guidelines HHS has set in way that will encourage widespread use of basic, functional IT tools and improve patient care.”
  • HHS released over $267 million from the stimulus funds to help 28 non-profit Regional Extension Centers (RECs).  This latest award brought the total of stimulus-funded RECs to 60, and is expected to support 100,000 primary care and hospitals within 2 years.  According to Secretary Sebelius, these 28 awards "represent [HHS's] ongoing commitment to make sure that health providers have the necessary support within their communities to maximize the use of health IT to improve the care they provide to their patients."  
  • Thomson Reuters released its annual study identifying the 100 top U.S. hospitals based on their overall organizational performance. The 10 areas measured are: mortality, medical complications, patient safety, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, patient satisfaction, adherence to clinical standards of care, and post-discharge mortality and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia. The study has been conducted annually since 1993. Is your hospital one of the 100 Top Performing Hospitals? Find out here.
  • According to the Baltimore Business Journal, a proposed Maryland law could change how primary care providers do business, by creating a patient-centric primary care delivery system whereby insurance companies would financially reward primary care providers for better outcomes.  However, the new law would also ease patient privacy rules by allowing greater sharing of patient information among medical practices and insurance companies. The law will likely pass with little or no opposition.
     

 
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