Medical Economics spoke with health care attorney Tatiana Melnik, J.D., about vendor contracts, patient consent and the malpractice questions physicians could face next.
|Articles|September 18, 2009
Federal government sponsors EHR-support offices
Author(s)Morgan Lewis Jr.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in late August plans to award $598 million in grants to open as many as 70 regional offices next year to help practices adopt electronic health record systems.
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in late August plans to award $598 million in grants to open as many as 70 regional offices next year to help practices adopt electronic health record systems.
"Our [centers] are designed to help the small practices and primary care physicians," says David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. "We're hoping a large number will qualify for 'meaningful use' early in the process." "Meaningful use" is a yet-to-be-defined standard physicians will have to meet to earn a potential $44,000 in incentives over five years from Medicare, with reimbursement penalties beginning in 2015.
The centers will help practices select a certified EHR system and provide "end-to-end project-management support" covering the entire implementation process.
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