The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid has announced that six more states, including California have joined the Medicaid EHR incentive program for eligible providers that utilize an ONC Certified EMR System. 



This now gives providers the choice to choose between either the Medicare or Medicaid EHR incentive programs. The DHCS website has more information on the Medicaid incentive program. 



Medicare Incentive Paid Over 5 Years: $44,000 Medicaid Incentive Paid Over...

Today October 3rd, 2011 marks the last day for this calendar year 2011 to start your 90 day reporting period to meet Meaningful Use for stage one. Meeting stage one is the first step in Meaningful Use and receiving the incentive monies.

 Does your office have a plan in place for meeting Meaningful Use? 

I recommend that every practice sits down and creates a timeline and checklist for implementing and meeting Meaningful Use, whether you plan on attesting for 2011 or if you plan on attesting in 2012.  

Below is a sample timeline and checklist for meeting Meaningful Use, every practice will vary in time and needs. 

Deciding to buy an EMR solution can be a tough process. Who do you choose? What questions to ask? Will it work for my practice? Will it be cost effective?  What's the downtime?, etc....

Here are some questions that you should be asking your EMR vendors in the buying process to make sure you know what your getting into. These questions have been complied from different lists out of asked by our clients, LinkedIn, Physicians Practice, and EMR Tips. We have taken 15 of them and answered them based on our Practice Expert EMR.

This week Cal-Med signed up with the Drummond Group to start the testing process to become a certified EMR software solution. The Drummond Group is a recognized certifying body by the federal government.



We are very pleased to announce this news and are looking forward to the process of testing and becoming fully certified to meet the government stimulus requirements. 

The first available date for testing with the Drummond Group is August 19th, 2011. Cal-Med has locked in this testing date and will start testing on that day. 

Cal-Med has taken precise steps to...

What types of Free EMRs are out on the market and what are the true cost of the Free EMR?



The three most common types of Free EMRs on the market are the Ad Supported/Data Selling, Open Source and Basic Free Version EMRs, the question is what are you really getting with these types of EMR solutions? Do they have all the modules and functions that your practice requires? Do they offer the support needed for the software? Do they have training? What are the added cost? These are all viable questions that should be looked at, below are the three common types of Free EMR solutions out on the market.





1. Ad Supported/Data Sharing With an EMR solution that is ad supported the end user will deal with advertisements on their system whenever...

Breaking news was released from Health Data Management on the state of the HITECH Act and the effect that the budget cuts were possibly placing on the stimulus money set aside for the healthcare industry and eligible professionals in making the transition to an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) solution. In "an extensive search of the 459-page Continuing Resolution that cuts more than $38 billion from the federal government's fiscal 2011 finds no reduction in health information technology programs funded under the HITECH Act.", says Joseph Goedert...

This past week the Cal-Med team launched its newly redesigned website, California Medical Systems (Cal-Med). The website address, www.cal-med.com remained the same, but the site has been completely reworked to make it more user-friendly and far more comprehensive in its offerings. We at Cal-Med aim to be a leading resource for our customers, and prospective health care practices that are searching for various technological solutions to improve the workflow of their practice. Additionally, the Cal-Med website provides users with a wealth of information on the HITECH Act and what providers need to comply with to receive the stimulus incentives....

The government is ever-changing and it’s hard to keep up with all the information and changes being made. In a recent post by Jeff Rowe, titled Despite politics, HIT will keep rolling along, he points out that while the government is making changes it should not stop the progress in the health care industry to continue proceeding into the digital era.

Waiting around for the government to make final decisions is like waiting to buy the latest technology; because you know the minute you go ahead and make the purchase, something newer  will come out. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be necessarily better than what you got it’s just going to be newer. In the post, Jeff uses the HR 408; the "Spending Reduction Act of 2011", as an example and it discusses the possible effects on the HITECH act and HIT, the key word being possible.

Many have put off the task of tackling what the HITECH act is and what has been put...