Despite increasing awareness and implementation of Meaningful Use reporting among medical professionals, clinics and hospitals this year, over 250,000 of providers will receive a penalty come January 1 for failing to meet Meaningful Use requirements.

While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had granted providers an extended deadline back in October to file hardship exception applications by November 30, approximately 257,000 of these eligible professionals, hospitals and medical offices neither met Meaningful Use attestation nor were certified for exemption from the penalties. Consequently, these providers will see their Medicare reimbursements cut by 1 percent starting January 1, 2015. Another 28,000 healthcare professionals will see a 2 percent reduction for failing to adhere to the electronic prescribing incentive program, in addition to falling short of Meaningful Use criteria.

According to CMS, 55,000 of the providers who applied for Meaningful Use hardship were granted exemptions. Another 2,000 applications had been rejected, but the agency notes that many of these providers had met the requirements for Meaningful Use reporting anyway.

Avoiding incentive penalties like these are one of the most immediate reasons why more providers should upgrade their chiropractic EHR systems to Meaningful Use (and in particular, Stage 2) standards. While some may fret about the cost that a new chiropractic EHR software might have on their bottom line, there's no more readily apparent cut into revenue than a CMS penalty. 

But Meaningful Use doesn't just make financial sense, it also helps improve patient care experiences. With new Meaningful Use-compliant software in place, clinics and medical professionals can provide patients with more accurate diagnoses while also enabling more easily shared information and streamlined recordkeeping.

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With all of the back-and-forth debates, delays and general confusion over initiatives like Meaningful Use and ICD-10, it can be all too easy to forget just why exactly the healthcare industry is racing toward more widespread EHRs in the first place. But the value of properly implemented and optimized health records among small practices and large hospitals alike speaks for itself: Improved patient care experiences, more accurate diagnoses and medical histories, easily shared and accessed information, even lower care costs. The need for a health record system that can account for all of these factors is becoming increasingly more important as the Baby Boomer generation grows older, sending more Americans into their elderly years, which, for many of them, will mean necessary long-term care services.

The senior care sector of the healthcare industry will only be taking in more and more patients in the years ahead, making the adoption of effective EHR software not only an advantage, but a necessity. As EHR Intelligence notes, here are just a few of the benefits that an optimized EHR system can bring to the table for improving long-term senior care experiences:

• Patient-centric care: The best chiropractic EHR software doesn't just improve a practice's logistical needs, but helps to put the patient first and deliver a more rewarding experience for them. Senior care centers can especially benefit from this kind of system by using EHRs to track patients' medical information and ensure that diagnoses are made with the most relevant and up-to-date information available.
• Workflow mobility and total connectivity: The advent of mobile and cloud computing means that doctors and practitioners have an easier time of not only accessing patient information, but communicating with one another for either answering questions or disseminating more pertinent data. For example, if a nurse is having trouble assessing a certain patient and requires a doctor's help, sending a quick (and secure) text message to the physician in question allows for more expedient answers that also: a) don't rely on the doctor sitting at a computer, and b) remove any of the human errors associated with paper records. 

"As the healthcare industry evolves, there will be a greater need for interoperability which will enable providers to make the best decisions for the resident and/or patient to support transitions of care across the care continuum," EHR Intelligence writes. "Long-term care providers must become better integrated, better connected and more streamlined with their partners in care."

Regardless of which field you practice in, implementing and utilizing an integrated chiropractic EHR system helps to both streamline your office's recordkeeping needs while creating more efficient results for patients.

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As Jerri Cowper, a physician and the Ambulatory National Practice Director for the Innovative Consulting Group, writes on EHR Intelligence, the healthcare industry has become something of a frenzied mess lately. EHR compliance initiatives like Meaningful Use and ICD-10 have become an oftentimes confusing entanglement of dates, delays, software and codes. Even though these upgrades are meant to benefit physicians and their practices, it's the physicians who are being effectively "left in the dust" to constantly play catch up on figuring out what exactly they need, how to implement it and what advantages are supposed to be gained from these new programs.

To that end, Cowper has compiled a few handy tips — tailored for physicians — to not only understand the benefits of chiropractic EHR software, but also how to best optimize these digital recordkeeping practices so that they work for, and not against, clinics and hospitals:

• Reevaluate your office's hardware: The best chiropractic EHR software is only as good as the hardware it runs on. While some practices may choose to hang onto computers and other medical equipment well past their shelf life in an effort to save money, outdated hardware — and the inefficiency that leads to for software and, consequently, patient care records — can prove more costly than the price tag of any new machine.
• Take a second look at your exam room: Cowper notes that many physicians typically don't give the layout of their examination room any second thought. "Unfortunately how the examination room is set up and where physicians access their electronic devices in relation to their patients can affect the quality of their visit," writes Cowper. "The inability to have that connection with patients can ultimately result in non-compliance as well as cause a bottleneck in the physician's documentation of the visit."

Adopting the most up-to-date chiropractic EHR software package as part of your clinic's recordkeeping can facilitate improved diagnoses, reduced costs and overall better patient care experiences.

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How well clinics, hospitals and other medical providers adopt EHR and Meaningful Use reporting into their recordkeeping may be the subject of new audit reviews conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), beginning as early as next year.

EHR Intelligence reports that the OIG is looking into the possibility of auditing providers based on how well they comply with EHR requirements, such as filing for reimbursement claims from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), or assessing the cyber security around a given provider's EHR software package.

"OIG's future planning efforts may consider the significant challenges that exist with respect to overseeing expenditures for health IT, the interoperability and effective sharing and use of health care data for medical care, and emergency preparedness and response," writes the OIG in an official agency statement. "We will perform audits of various covered entities receiving EHR incentive payments from CMS and their business associates, such as EHR cloud service providers, to determine whether they adequately protect electronic health information created or maintained by certified EHR technology." 

According to the OIG's work plan, the goal of these audits would be to ensure that — as EHR and Meaningful Use reporting becomes an increasingly integral (and mandatory component) for medical recordkeeping — providers are adequately complying with "regulatory requirements and contractual agreements." 

Implementing new EHR chiropractic software into a clinic or practice's administrative duties can not only ensure that physicians are complying with these industry regulations, but are also providing more readily accessible healthcare data, improved diagnoses for patients and even reduced costs.

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In response to impending deadlines and sluggish adoption rates among providers, the American Medical Association (AMA) is officially urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to remove the penalties for not meeting Meaningful Use EHR reporting requirements.

"The AMA has been calling for policymakers to refocus the Meaningful Use program on interoperability for quite some time," Steven Jack, the association's president-elect, said in a press release. "The whole point of the Meaningful Use incentive program was to allow for the secure exchange of information across settings and providers and right now that type of sharing and coordination is not happening on a wide scale for reasons outside physicians' control. Physicians want to improve the quality of care and usable, interoperable electronic health records are a pathway to achieving that goal."

According to the AMA, only 2 percent of physicians across the country have been able to meet reporting requirements for Meaningful Use Stage 2 thus far — ensuring that an overwhelming majority of providers will incur penalties if they do not integrate Stage 2 compliant EHR software before the November 30 hardship deadline. To that end, the association is asking CMS to suspend penalties and work greater flexibility into the program to help more physicians and clinics upgrade their chiropractic EHR systems without suffering undue penalties in the process.

CMS has remained adamant in adhering to implementation deadlines for both Meaningful Use and ICD-10, with both the federal agency and providers alike noting that further delays on either initiative will only put the healthcare industry behind even more. At the same time, the AMA's argument is that the benefits of chiropractic EHR software are moot if physicians are unable to adopt the new system in time — and having to contend with accumulating penalties along the way will only hamper those adoption efforts even more.

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Last week's midterm elections saw the Republican party retake the Senate, giving them control of both houses of Congress for the first time in eight years. While the country has looked at a number of hot issues sure to be affected by this shift in power — from immigration to climate change — one that has seen little publicity has been how a Republican-led Congress will affect the healthcare industry's road to Meaningful Use Stage 2 adoption. With the old legislation and deadlines passed under a Democratic administration, could a Republican shift bring disruptions to the process? Or does the GOP turnover present more benefits than drawbacks for providers?

"The near-term impact is, just by virtue of a balance of power shift, that it created new opportunities for old ideas," Jeff Smith, the College of Health Information Management Executives' (CHIME) public policy director, tells TechTarget. "Now we might have an audience in the Senate that just might be willing to address problems in the administration of the meaningful use system and how the regulations have been written."

CIOs and other health IT providers had increasingly grown critical of Congress' expedited pace of Meaningful Use adoption, with many doctors, clinicians and hospital administrators complaining that stringent deadlines were leaving little room for properly integrating Stage 2 reporting into their chiropractic EHR systems and actually learning the ropes of what these chiropractic EHR software packages entail. 

While incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made no public remarks about what new approach, if any, the Senate will be taking to accommodating providers' needs, many CIOs are at least optimistic that a change in leadership will provide an opportunity for a new dialogue on how to reform the meaningful use system.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a bevy of new numbers pointing to the progress made in Meaningful Use Stage 2 adoption so far. According to the CMS data, as of November 1, over 500,000 providers have registered for Meaningful Use's Medicare and Medicaid incentives program, which by the end of September 30, has already given out over $25 billion in reimbursements to eligible hospitals and physicians.

Industry news provider iHealthBeat reports that the number of eligible professionals actually attesting to Meaningful Use compliance spans 43,893 individuals — 15,841 of whom are new. Additionally, of the 1,903 hospitals reporting Meaningful Use attestation, 221 are new participants. However, only about one-quarter of these professionals (11,478) and less than half of participating hospitals (840) have actually achieved Stage 2 reporting.

While the participant numbers look relatively low right now, Dawn Heisey-Grove of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT expects Stage 2 attestations to jump significantly as we get closer to the November 30 and February 28 deadlines for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, respectively. Russell Branzell, CEO and President of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), was, however, less enthused about the turnout thus far and expressed concerns about the future viability of the initiative barring any major help from CMS.

"[The new data] have validated the concerns of providers and IT leaders," Branzell said in an official statement. "Providers have struggled mightily in 2014, in many instances for reasons beyond their control. If nothing is done to help them get back on track for 2015, we will continue to see growing dissatisfaction with EHRs and disenchantment with meaningful use."

Investing in the best chiropractic EHR software now can ensure that your practice's recordkeeping needs are brought up-to-date with Meaningful Use standards in time for the appropriate deadline.

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With 2014 quickly coming to a close, the healthcare industry is renewing its emphasis on pushing providers to adopt Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 2 reporting standards. This was the subject of last week's College of Healthcare Information Management Executives' (CHIME) 2014 Fall CIO Forum, where stakeholders convened to discuss how to prioritize MU Stage 2 alongside other key issues like ICD-10 and cyber protection for medical records.

Chief among the issues discussed was the impending Medicare and Medicaid deadline. In accordance with the 2009 stimulus bill, providers who integrate MU Stage 2 reporting into their recordkeeping may be eligible for reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid. Conversely, not abiding by these requirements can result in penalties for clinics and hospitals as soon as early 2015, which is increasingly becoming a pressing concern for the relatively few amount of professionals who are eligible for — but currently failing to attest to — Stage 2 guidelines.

At the forum, CHIME's vice president of public policy, Jeff Smith, asserted that the college is collaborating with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) "to try and figure out a way to make these numbers better." Industry news source iHealthBeat adds that one proposed suggestion calls for cutting down the MU reporting period from the whole of 2015 to a simple 90-day window.

While groups like CHIME doubling down on efforts to ease the transition into Meaningful Use and other similarly important industrywide updates, providers and physicians can do their own part by incorporating new chiropractic EHR software into their practice's administrative duties. The best chiropractic EHR software package can streamline recordkeeping and even reduce related costs of patient care, all without disrupting typical workflow.

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Between ICD-10 and Meaningful Use Stage 2, chiropractic practices across the country are increasingly ramping up efforts to incorporate chiropractic EHR packages into their administrative duties. Relying on more digital recordkeeping boasts a number of benefits for clinics and physicians, from facilitating more accurate diagnoses to more effectively tracking and sharing patient data and even reducing patient care costs. But could adopting chiropractic EHR software help protect your office from an audit too?

"Increasingly, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is conducting audits of practices who have attested to meaningful use of an EHR system and received incentive payments from the federal government," writes Dava Stewart of Chiropractic Economics. "Generally, such an audit will begin with a letter from the OIG requesting meaningful use documentation."

According to Stewart, this documentation includes:

• Amount of time that practitioners spend in other offices
• Chiropractic documentation software invoices and licensing agreements that prove legal purchase
• Number of facilities and EHR systems being used
• Percentage of records that are stored independently of the EHR system

In the event of an audit, all of these are documents are easier to recall if they're stored on a digital EHR system rather than strewn about in folders and filing cabinets across the office! As Stewart notes, the best way to prepare for an audit is to expect one is coming no matter what — that way, in the event that it does occur, your practice is more than ready to accommodate documentation requests.

With the best chiropractic EHR software on hand, physicians' offices can streamline their recordkeeping responsibilities, ensuring both improved care for patients and easier maneuvering around audits.

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While the road to ICD-10 these past few months may have overshadowed the ongoing effort among providers and payers to get in line with Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements, the latter initiative is just as essential as the former in modernizing the landscape of the American healthcare industry. Adhering to Stage 2 reporting criterion ensures that clinics, hospitals and physicians' offices across the country have up-to-date chiropractic EHR packages that can streamline administrative recordkeeping, collect more accurate diagnosis data and and share information between providers.

However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently come under fire for pushing the Physician Quality Reporting System and Value-Based Payment Modifier alongside Meaningful Use — three initiatives that should work in tandem to streamline reimbursement claims and dispense incentives, but are problematically incompatible with one another as is. These issues only add further confusion for providers already struggling to update their chiropractic EHR software to Meaningful Use Stage 2 standards — a problem that the American Medical Association (AMA) is urging CMS to fix as soon as possible.

"[These] problems, with often incomprehensible, conflicting requirements and flawed implementation processes, are all entering their penalty phases and pose a risk to the stability of the Medicare program that many policymakers do not seem to appreciate," writes James Madara, CEO and Executive Vice President of the AMA, in a letter penned to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. According to Madara, because the three initiatives were devised by separate pieces of legislation, they've created a "cumulative effect of a set of penalties that, when combined with a 2 percent payment sequester reduction, would total the 11 percent in 2017 and grow to 13 percent by the end of the decade."

Madara adds that this perfect storm of penalties could also pose a threat to providers' efforts in switching to ICD-10 within the next year.

To get out ahead of potential compatibility issues when it matters the most, it's essential to invest in the best chiropractic EHR software now rather than further down the road.

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