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. 

Moving on in our Meaningful Use Breakdown series we will take a closer look at the core measure two, Drug Interaction Checks. This core measure checks to see that the EP (Eligible Professionals) are using EMR technology in regards to checking medications that they are prescribing to patients for possible drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions. Attesting for this measure is a yes or no.  Yes = Drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks were turned on during the full 90 day reporting period.  No = Drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks were NOT turned on for the full 90 day reporting period. Within the EMR these alerts should automatically appear when an interaction is found. This feature is already included within the Practice Expert EMR. ...

Kicking off our Meaningful Use Breakdown series we will be deconstructing the first core measure, CPOE (Computer Provider Order Entry). The first measure is a the set of 15 core required measures for Eligible Professionals (EP) to show that they are meeting Meaningful Use. 

The CPOE measure checks to see that all unique patients (any patient seen more than once during the 90 day reporting period is to be counted only once in the denominator), more than 30% of those unique patients seen have at least one medication that was ordered using CPOE.   Using a CPOE in an EMR is most commonly used with the eRx module. The Practice Expert EMR has this ability using the eRx module...

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...

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...

There are a lot of challenges involved in getting lab results to providers and clinicians. The lab tests are a critical element in patient care, affecting about 70 to 80% of clinical decisions. Every year 7 billion lab tests are performed in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. Therefore, it is very important that these results make it to the providers in time, for them to make informed decisions.

Lab data and other data are still being received on paper, especially at small practices where most of the healthcare is delivered. The lab data sometimes takes days or even weeks to get to the doctors’ offices. This can really spell trouble for the patients as the information contained in the results often calls for immediate action, and when you think about the fact that we can pull up stock quotes and sports scores instantly, it’s really frustrating.

The solution seems pretty simple; we need to integrate lab information results with Electronic Medical Records....

I ask the question who doesn't like FREE? I like to receive free things, but there's always a little voice in my head that asks why is this free? What do they want from me? Especially when dealing with a company that I have not done business with before. I think everyone can understand the lure of a free EMR, but is it really free? A couple of weeks ago we welcomed back a client who uses our Practice Expert EMR program. They had chosen to try another provider but found them unsatisfactory in their products and support. They were drawn to them based on the fact that they offered a "free EMR" program. We were told that “the main reason for our returning to Practice Expert EMR was the level of support, customization, and service that is offered”. Anyone can definitely see the appeal of a “free” EMR program,...