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Physician dependence on electronic systems has never been greater than it is now. Wholesale adoption of the Electronic Health Record (EHR), the digitalization of diagnostic imaging (PACS), and the emergence of intra-clinical sharing via Health Information Exchange (HIE); these forces combine to amplify the importance of the Information Technology (IT) staff, vendors, and other technical players that support the practice of medicine.

The deadline is fast approaching to file for a Hardship Exception to avoid the 2016 Medicare EHR payment adjustment. If your provider successfully attested for the 2014 reporting period, you do not have to file an application. If a provider did not successfully demonstrate meaningful use in 2014 in either the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, it will result in a reduction of 2% to the physician fee schedule amounts for the 2016 payment year. The deadline for filing a Hardship Exception Application is by 11:59 PM EDT on July 1, 2015 for all eligible professionals.

For those of us that have seen The Wizard of Oz, the Internet is like the field of poppies. Good and bad websites cannot be identified simply by looking at them. So what do we do to avoid the malicious websites? Several services have been created to help people address this issue. This article highlights a few of the easier to use services that can help you add security to your home and office environment.

There is a new bill (SGR-Sustainable growth rate) that has been passed and includes a new incentive program called the Merit-based Incentive Payment (MIPS). This incentive program essentially rolls together and is intended to harmonize three existing quality-incentive programs: the EHR incentive program, the Physician Quality Reporting System, and the Value-based payment modifier established under the Affordable Care Act.

On Friday, April 10^th, CMS released a 210 page document outlining the long awaited proposed rule for the 2015 reporting year. CMS originally announced their intention to do so in January but did not state many specifics at that time. This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on April 15, 2015. It will also be available online at http://federalregister.gov/a/2015-08514, and on FDsys.gov.   

In Part I of The Benefits of Moving to the Cloud, we discussed how cost effective, scalable, and secure it is to implement a cloud solution for your healthcare Information Technology (IT) needs. While these are great benefits, there are even more reasons a cloud IT solution is ideal for small hospitals and offices with multiple physicians who are short on IT staff, but high on demand for quality healthcare services.

As technology has advanced over the years, dependence on the internet for business reasons has increased significantly.  People conduct research online for everything from the cheapest hotels to the best primary care physicians.  This research generally includes online reviews of products, services, and professionals.  

While online reviews can be beneficial to a business, they can often have a negative affect as well.  Online review sites such as Yelp and others social media sites are often referred to as the internet "Wall of Shame," since users tend to try to shame businesses, and warn others not to use them. Therefore it's vital for a practice to have someone routinely check these sites in order to guard against disgruntled patients and to maintain their reputations within the community. 

There is no question that technological advances are being made at ever-increasing speeds.  If you’re in the business of providing health services that fact may make you a little uneasy.  It’s one thing to provide quality care and healing, quite another to have to manage Information Technology (IT) systems that seem to change overnight while still providing excellent patient care.

In an age when virtually all talk about computers seems to revolve around cloud solutions, it may seem a little strange to hear someone ask you what you're doing to maintain and upgrade your hardware infrastructure.  But the truth is, making sure that computer hardware is up to the demands of today's business environment is a key function of any vigilant healthcare IT department.

There is one task that must be completed not later than December 31st, 2014 in order to be successful for the 2015 Meaningful Use reporting period.  For everyone who is attesting for their second year of Meaningful Use and beyond, next year is currently scheduled to be a full year.