Look for similar articles under these categories: 

• EHR,
• EMR,
• Electronic Health Record,
• Electronic Medical Record

6 responses to "New EHR Decision Making Process"

1. # Tina commented on June 12th, 2009:

   I’ve seen alot of offices go to EMR over the past few years. Because it meant saving time, energy, and money in their practices. But it also meant spending money, time and energy to implement the EMR. Most practices would say they will not go back to paper. The benefits of EMR really do outweigh the cost. But remember too that you have to have the full cooperation of each physician and provider in your office. If the doctors do use it the staff will not get what they need out of it.
   Some of the greatest benefits have been not from the EMR themselves but from the add on features. The ability to receive lab tests, send electronic prescriptions, fax a referral letter without printing an faxing, to name a few. The technology that has gotten us this interoffice communication is really a timesaver in the office and now it is affordable by even the 1 dr office with 2 or 3 staff and a handful of patients.
   If you are looking into EMR/EHR – GREAT!! But if your looking to get the stimulus money for the EMR – be sure the EMR is CCHIT Certified and that you qualify for the “rebate”. You must qualify under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. If you don’t take either of those insurances, or not enough of them you may not get stimulus money.

   This website seems like it has a lot of reliable sources for information. There are some white papers out there that can be understood by anyone, written mostly in layman’s terms to let you know if you qualify and what you have to do to qualify. Like, if you prescribe meds, you must be actively E-Prescribing by the time you apply for the stimulus money. That’s an extra monthly service to pay for. If you can’t fiqure it out, find someone you trust to help you, not just someone to sell you the software.

2. # Cathy commented on June 15th, 2009:

   ” But if your looking to get the stimulus money for the EMR – be sure the EMR is CCHIT Certified”

   It was my understanding that the criteria for the stimulus had not been decieded?

3. # John commented on June 15th, 2009:

   Cathy,
   You’re absolutely right. It’s still being decided what the criteria for the stimulus will be. The writing on the wall says that CCHIT will be some part of it, but it could be more than that too.

   I think it’s a little presumptuous to say go with CCHIT now. I still say go with the EMR that will be best for you and your clinic and consider any possible stimulus money as a potential bonus to the other benefits of using an EMR.

4. # Alfred Harding commented on August 28th, 2010:

   If the product you use is CCHIT certified, it is a pretty safe bet to say that they will be certified under the Meaningful Use rule. Meaningful Use is but a subset of what it takes to become CCHIT certified. Alfred infomd.net

5. # John commented on August 30th, 2010:

   Alfred,
   I don’t think that the new certified EHR is a subset of CCHIT. There are some similarities and concepts, but it’s not a subset.

   However, I think you’re right that many CCHIT certified vendors will become ARRA certified. Mostly because the EHR vendor that has the CCHIT certification has chosen to make EHR certification a priority for their company. So, they’ll likely make the ARRA certification a priority as well.

   It is worth asking if you want to be tied to an EHR company that focuses so much on certification. One could make the argument that an EHR vendor that focuses so much on EHR certification might not be focusing enough on the customer’s needs. These 2 focuses will obviously create very different EHR products.

6. # CCHIT Certified EHR Becoming ARRA Certified EHR | EMR and HIPAA pingbacked on August 30th, 2010:

   [...] from Infomd.net recently made the following comment: If the product you use is CCHIT certified, it is a pretty safe bet to say that they will be [...]