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If you are like most doctors you've probably heard something
about a government incentive program
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encouraging physicians to implement electronic
health records,
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however you're probably a little fuzzy on the details.
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Well,you're not alone the let's take a closer look
and see if we can help you make sense of it all.
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On February seventeenth two thousand nine,
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the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
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also known as the Stimulus Package
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was signed by President Obama into law.
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Contained within it's pages is new legislation
known as the Health Information Technology
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for Economic and Clinical Help Act
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That's a mouthful so we'll just call it the HITECH Act.
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So what exactly is the HITECH Act;
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and how does it affect you, a physician?
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Well very simply it uses financial incentives
to encourage physicians to adopt Certified Electronic
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Through the increased use of EHRs the government
hopes to achieve the goal of a national health
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information network
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that will result in improved quality of care,
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patient safety and lower costs.
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What kind of financial incentives are we talking
about here?
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Perhaps as much as thirty four
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billion dollars.
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So now you're probably asking yourself
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One, how do I qualify for this money?
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And two, just how much of that thirty four billion is
available to me?
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Well the answers to both of these questions
are actually quite simple.
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To qualify for a piece of the HITECH money
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there are two things you will need to do.
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your practice must purchase and use a government
certified EHR.
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your practice will need to demonstrate
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meaningful use of this EHR.
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This means that you will have to prove to the government
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that the EHR is being properly implemented
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according to their criteria.
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This criteria is detailed in a list of twenty five
requirements issued by the Department of Health
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and Human Services.
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It is broken down into two sets of objectives
and measures;
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A core set consists of fifteen
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non-negotiable objectives
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that all physicians must comply with.
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In the menu set however,
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providers are free to choose five items from
among a menu of ten to implement.
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In all this means physicians must meet twenty total objectives in order to demonstrate
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