The future of billing and coding in the United States is uncertain. Our current system using ICD 9 is light years behind the rest of the world, which is already using ICD 11.

CMS recently delayed the deadline to switch over to ICD 10 by another year. It is currently scheduled for October 1st, 2014.

Given the delay, many have suggested we skip ICD 10 altogether and move straight to ICD 11. Either way, it is a confusing time for medical billing personnel.

As a result, we are now offering chart conversions. Send us your charts, and we will convert your ICD 9 codes to 10 or 11. We charge a transaction fee of $10 per chart.

If you are interested in more information, please contact us at info@xlemr.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Over 100,000 health care providers are using ONC-certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems and have collected reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid to date. The Meaningful Use program pays up to $44,000 under Medicare and $64,000 under Medicaid to providers who implement certified EHR systems. Providers have to meet performance criteria known as “Meaningful Use” before CMS will pay them.

Congress sought to incentivize providers to move from paper records to EHR systems when they enacted Meaningful Use, technically known as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, itself part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), passed in 2009. Paper charts are inefficient, difficult to read, cumbersome to process, and increase the cost of healthcare.

Many providers have already taken advantage of meaningful use. However, time is running out to take full advantage of the funding. The money is broken up over five years; CMS pays most of it during the first two years. Providers need to start this year to get the maximum amount.

Time is running out. 2012 is already half over. If you haven’t purchased an EHR yet, you only have a short time to make your decision. October 1st is the last day you can begin your 90-day attestation period for year one of the Medicare program. Under normal circumstances, it will take your practice a month or two to implement and come up to speed on a new system. If you are still shopping for EHR, and you want to take full advantage of the incentive money, you should make a purchase decision within the next few weeks.

Year one for the Medicaid program does not require a 90-day attestation period. If your practice sees more than 30% Medicaid patients by volume, you will qualify for the $64,000. All you have to do is adopt, implement, or upgrade to a certified system to collect the $20,000 offered during year one.

Please contact us if you would like more information about how you can qualify for the Meaningful Use program. Our consultants will conduct a free needs assessment with you to determine which EHR system will best meet your needs. You can reach us at info@xlemr.com.

Many physicians complain about having to enter so much data once they switch to electronic health records (EHR). It’s true, EHRs usually require much more data entry than paper charts. This is doubly true for meaningful use certified EHR systems. Meaningful use ups the ante, requiring more data entry at all points of care. How can busy physicians manage to keep up?

Delegation, of course, is the winning strategy. Physicians are responsible for the medical care of their patients, not entering data. Here are a few ways to delegate the data entry burden:

First, utilize your nurses and medical assistants. Ambulatory physicians seem to do this well, for the most part. However, we have worked with a few providers who micromanage the encounter. They want to chart all of the patients’ data themselves in minute and exacting detail. If you’re one of these physicians, it’s crucial that you open up and allow your medical assistants to share the load. The physician is the bottleneck of a practice, they limit revenue by the number of encounters they can complete in a day. Proper delegation will help your practice move fast.

Second, consider implementing Phreesia or another waiting room-based tablet or kiosk. Kiosks are tremendously helpful. They speed up the process of checking in and processing co-pays. In addition, most kiosks allow you to create custom forms, giving you the ability to collect data on chief complaint, history of present illness, medical, social, and family history, or just about anything else. The more data collection you can delegate to your patient, the more time you will save.

Third, look into patient portals and mobile applications. Patient portals offer online accounts for your patients to access their health information, which is uploaded by your EHR. In addition to health information such as labs, medications, and allergies, patients can also schedule appointments, message the doctor, fill out forms, and even pay their co-pay. Mobile applications offer a convenient way to collect health information during the day, such as symptoms or pain scores.

If your practice is looking for ways to increase your throughput, speed up your encounters, reduce costs, or increase revenues, delegating your data entry is the first step. Whether you need strategies on how to more efficiently utilize your office staff, or if you’re interested in custom integration to a kiosk or patient portal, let us help you. Please contact us at info@xlemr.com for more information.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) software is an important tool to modernize your practice. However, it is only part of this “complete breakfast.” Custom development may be necessary to take your practice to the next level and allow you to reap benefits of full digital integration. Here are a few things your practice should consider:

Labs: Once your EHR is in place, lab integration is usually the next step. XLEMR is one of the few vendors in the process of becoming approved for drop-in status with LabCorp. Drop-in status allows us to bring new practices online quickly. We also have interfaces with Quest and LabDaq for in house labs.

Data Conversions: If you have a practice management or billing system, and you’re switching EHRs or implementing for the first time, data conversions will help you get going. We can extract data from your old system and import it into your new system. Basic conversions focus on demographic data, but we may be able to include clinical data as well. Basic conversions will set up all of your records in your EHR, saving you and your staff hours and hours of tedious data entry work.

Document Management: Managing paper is crucial for the long-term success of your practice. There are many strategies and software applications for dealing with old charts. Some providers like to scan everything, while others prefer only the last year, or the last few notes.

In terms of software, you can use built-in windows functionality, third party scanning and Optical Character Recognition software, or completely outsource the scanning of your charts. Your budget and timeframe should determine which approach is right for you. Let us help you pick a winning strategy.

Medical Devices: If your practice uses diverse medical equipment such as EKG, X-ray, Ultrasound, MRI or other machines, we may be able to interface them with your EHR. Interfacing your “smart” medical equipment saves time and helps eliminate the possibility of data entry errors. Contact us for a consultation to see how we can help you.

If you would like information on any of these topics, or have other ideas about how we can take your practice to the next level, please contact us at info@xlemr.com. We look forward to hearing from you.