Useful Links
Information regarding Medicare Incentive Payments, Meaningful Use, the E-Rx Incentive Program, and PQRI is available on the following websites.
Medicare Incentive Payments Tip Sheet
The tip sheet found at http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/EHRIncentivePayments-ICN903691.pdf identifies opportunities for certain Medicare providers to receive incentive payments for participating in important Medicare initiatives, and answers common questions. For example, Table 2 on page 4 outlines the programs that EPs may participate in at the same time.
Meaningful Use
This link http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/99_Meaningful_Use.asp gives answers to the questions of “What is Meaningful Use?” and “What are the requirements for Stage 1 of Meaningful Use (2011 and 2012)?”. It also gives information in regard to Clinical Quality Measures. If you are just getting started, check out the following website to find out what you can do now: http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/20_Getting_Started.asp#TopOfPage
E-Rx Incentive Program
It’s not too late to start participating in the 2010 Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program (eRx) and potentially qualify to receive a full-year incentive payment. This link http://www.cms.gov/ERxIncentive/03_How_To_Get_Started.asp#TopOfPage includes questions to ask yourself to evaluate where you stand if you have not yet participated in the eRx program, and has a section that walks you step-by-step in how to get started.
PQRI (Physician Quality Reporting Initiative)
For PQRI, go to http://www.cms.gov/pqri/ for an overview or, once on the website, click on the "How to Get Started" link on the left to find out more about getting started. It’s not too late to start. You can potentially qualify to receive an incentive payment equal to 2% of your total estimated Medicare Part B PFS allowed charges for covered professional services furnished during the entire year by reporting at least 1 measures group on 30 unique patients via claims or registry submission.
CMS Webinars
CMS offers monthly webinars. December's webinar is "Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs". For more information, go to http://thecrhcconsortium.blogspot.com/2010/11/cms-webinar-on-electronic-health-record.html