EHRs and Meaningful Use
The Federal HITECH Act gives you the opportunity to enhance your practice through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. Have you taken advantage of incentives up to $63,750 for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use?
The programs distribute financial incentives to health care providers who demonstrate they are “meaningfully using” their Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Health Information Exchange (HIE) to improve patient care by meeting three stages, or levels, of objectives.
An interface between Reliance and your EHR provides many benefits that can have a positive impact on your daily workflow and the efficiency of your practice as well as your ability to attest to Meaningful Use objectives. Here’s how…
Save Money! A single interface to Reliance means that you get structured data for all participating data contributors—those currently participating in Reliance and those who join in the future. That means when new data contributors (hospitals, labs, imaging facilities, and others) join Reliance, you have the option to “turn on” the data flow. It does not require a change to the existing interface so there is no additional cost to you and you save money by implementing and maintaining one interface with Reliance rather than having to build and maintain an interface to each individual source of patient data. You decide what data comes into your EHR. If you want to control sources or types of data, you can view these other data sources via Reliance and import the data you need into your EHR on an as need basis.
Have Better Information and Improve Quality! Never miss a critical result because it was faxed to the wrong number or keyed incorrectly into your EHR. Reliance provides real-time clinical results and reports directly into your EHR based on the preferences and workflow of your practice. Never again will you or your staff have to call the lab or diagnostic facility looking for a missing test results; or order a duplicate test because the results were not available to you when you needed them.
Achieve Meaningful Use Stage 2! Reliance can help you achieve Meaningful Use stage 1 and 2 requirements. Your EHR interface with Reliance can provide direct benefits toward achieving Meaningful Use in streamlined, cost effective ways as follows:
| Core Obj # | Meaningful Use 3 Core Objective | Measure | Reliance Services |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Incorporate clinical lab-test results into Certified EHR Technology as structured data | 55% of all clinical lab test results ordered are incorporated in EHR as structured data | A direct interface with your EHR allows Reliance to deliver results and reports directly into your EHR, including structured lab data and more. With one interface to Reliance you get a direct data feed from all data senders participating with Reliance today as well as those joining in the future. |
| 15 | Provide a summary care record for each patient transition of care or referral to another provider of care | Provide summary of care record 50% of transitions of care and referrals to another setting or provider of care; at least 10% of which must be transmitted and received electronically | Use Reliance as your certified Direct Trust service for delivering summary records to other providers for transitions of care. Reliance also will deliver summary of care records to your EHR from other providers. When you use Reliance to send/receive summary of care records, you also make them available for other authorized providers to view them so they have better information to care for your patients, in an emergency for example. |
Attest for Meaningful Use! In addition to the specific measures that can be achieved via Reliance, there are several indirect ways in which Reliance can support meaningful use attestation. For example, having data from multiple sources through Reliance will ensure that you have the most complete picture of your patient’s health. That means that you will have the most up-to-date and complete information be able to demonstrate clinical quality measures, such as:
- Generating lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research, or outreach (objective 11);
- Using clinically relevant information to identify patients who should receive reminders for preventive/follow-up care (objective 12); or
- Identifying patients who will benefit from patient-specific education resources (objective 13).
How much does a Reliance interface to my EHR cost, you ask? Reliance does not charge clinics for the Reliance side of the interface provided that they agree to implement the full Reliance interface, including summary of care exchange. Each EHR vendor is a little different with regard to their interface cost and process for achieving connectivity. It is important to discuss the connection with your vendor and to understand their charges. If you have any questions, contact Reliance for help.
Get Connected
Learn more about getting a Reliance interface at no charge by contacting us at via email at info@RelianceHIE.org or calling 1-855-290-5443. Visit the Connecting your EHR to Reliance page to get more information about the three easy steps you need to take to get your EHR connected with Reliance.
