Many providers were caught off guard by the e-prescribing penalty that started earlier this year. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do at this point to stop the penalty on 2012 claims but it is not to late to avoid next year’s penalty. For those who are unfamiliar with the program and what you need to…

Beginning on March 1, 2012, CMS will open an Appeals Portal for Eligible Professionals participating in the EHR Incentive program. (The portal for Eligible Hospitals is slated to be up by June 1, 2012.) Until such time as the Appeals Portal is up, the guidance available is here. According to this document, the types of…

GE purchased MedPlexus in 2010 in order to provide a cloud-based EHR targeted at small practices. Now, less than two years later, GE has announced that it will no longer support Centricity Advance after June 30, 2012. Multiple postings on the web describe this change. Here’s the story from InformationWeek Healthcare. This decision was made,…

The American Medical Association (AMA) just released a new online program addressing health IT and workflow redesign. The topics covered, through 3 modules lasting less than 10 minutes each, include electronic prescribing, pre-visit planning, and point-of-care documentation. The program is nicely produced. It includes video/audio, transcripts of the content, and links to resources. This post…

Earlier today CMS extended the deadline for 5010 compliance by 90 days; the original deadline was January 1, 2012. ASC X12 Version 5010 is the transaction used to submit electronic claims to payers. Many of the large clearing houses and state Medicaid options had publicly stated that they were not going to be ready to…

IHE-USA strives to “drive adoption of standards-based interoperability to improve patient care through innovation, standards profiling, testing, education and collaboration.” Part of this mission is achieved through the IHE North American (N.A.) Connectathon, which will take place January 9–14, 2012 in Chicago. Notably, IHE is reporting that: More than 100 leading health IT companies and research…