1. What Meaningful Use Means to Your Practice
Speaker: Abdiel Marin (Ab-Dee- L)
President & Lead Developer for
EyeMD EMR Healthcare Systems, Inc.

2. Intro to Meaningful Use
Meaningful use is real, well funded, and is not going away
As of 5/31/2012
113,497 EPs & EHs have been reimbursed a total of 5.7 Billion Dollars: 21.2 Billion is left
1181 Ophthalmologists have been reimbursed
2394 Optometrists have been reimbursed
You will receive payment 6-8 weeks after attesting
$44,000 in payments per Medicare provider are available if you start now
It is easier for an Ophthalmologist to achieve Meaningful Use than a Primary Care Physician!

3. Waiting Will Cost You Waiting will reduce your Incentive Reimbursement
Penalties will start in 3 Years for MU. E-Rx already started, PQRS penalties start next year.
The Government expects you to procrastinate.
Unused MU funds will be deposited into the US Treasury General Fund, penalties will decrease Medicare’s liabilities.

4. Waiting Will Cost You E-Rx Penalties PQRS Penalties
1.5% Penalty for 2013 if you did not send at least 10 E-Rx’s by June 30, 2012.
2% Penalty for 2014.
PQRS Penalties
1.5% Penalty for 2015 if you don’t report PQRS for 2013!
2% Penalty every year after.
Total Penalty per Doctor billing 1mil MCR per year
2013 Total Penalty = 3% + $5,000 = $35,000
2014 Total Penalty = 4% + $15,000 = $55,000
2015 Total Penalty = 3% + $24,000 = $54,000
2016 Total Penalty = 4% = $40,000
2017 Total Penalty = 5% = $50,000
2018 Total Penalty = 7% = $70,000
Total = $304,000 per Doctor

5. EMR Selection is Critical to Your Success
Achieving Meaningful Use should be easy and automatic
MU is a great reimbursement program to help you modernize your practice, but selecting the wrong EMR/EHR can easily spoil the incentive.
An EMR should help streamline your practice, if it hurts it something is wrong.
The Meaningful Use Incentive will not offset the costs associated with selecting the wrong EMR.
DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE!

6. Make Sure the EMR is ONC-ATCB Complete EHR Certified
How to Select an EMR
Make Sure the EMR is ONC-ATCB Complete EHR Certified
A Modular Certification will require you to purchase solutions from other vendors in order to achieve Meaningful Use

7. Types of EMR Software Template EMR vs. Specialty EMR
A Template EMR is an EMR that offers you a software structure that you customize entirely
PROS
You can customize the system in any way that you like
Multispecialty Clinics can use 1 EMR for all their specialties
CONS
Difficult & costly to customize
Will require at least 1 year of customizations before you can go live
Will require years of customization before it is perfected
You will likely not benefit from improvements suggested by other practices
Future regulations may have a severe impact on your templates, forcing you to either redesign them, or modify them to adhere to regulations.
Extracting/Trending data from your EMR will be difficult and costly
You may have to redo your templates after a major software version change
The EMR will not have advanced automations that help to streamline data entry
You will likely not have advanced integrations with Diagnostic Equipment
Vendor is not invested in your specialty, and will likely ignore the specialty if they feel another specialty is more lucrative.
You will likely not have the resources to perfect & maintain the EMR

8. Types of EMR Software Template EMR vs. Specialty EMR
A Specialty EMR is an EMR that was designed specifically and only for your Specialty (Ophthalmology)
PROS
You will not have to customize the structure of the software
The EMR customization process is reduced by 80% as you will only be customizing settings specific to your practice
You can go live in 2-3 months, tech savvy practices much sooner
You will benefit from cumulative suggestions from other users
Data can be easily mined for clinical studies & marketing
Data entry can be automated & streamlined for efficiency & functionality
Ophthalmic relevant data is emphasized
Clinicians will feel that the software was designed just for them
Vendor is invested in the specialty, and will pay more attention to your needs.
Vendor will make significant efforts to interface with all Ophthalmic Diagnostic equipment, some at no cost to you
CONS
Major structural changes cannot be made by the user
Clinics with Non-Ophthalmology related specialties will likely require a separate EMR
BEWARE OF TEMPLATE EMRs DISGUISED AS A SPECIALTY EMR!
Only a handful of Ophthalmology Specialty EMRs exist

9. How to Select an EMR What Really Makes an EMR/EHR Good or Bad
Is the EMR specifically designed for Ophthalmology?
Does the EMR present relevant clinical visit data in a way that allows the Ophthalmologist to “eyeball” it quickly & easily?
Can you customize the system “on the fly”?
Does the EMR include an Imaging System?
If so, can you easily compare multiple images?
Is the quality of the Image Degraded when in the EMR?
Can you create & apply predefined treatment plans?
Does the EMR require minimal clicks/typing?
Does the EMR have a good track record for customer service?

10. How to Select an EMR Do Your Due Diligence
Find out how many users are live and still using the EMR system, not their practice management system.
Ask for 2-3 EMR References and call them
Ask them “Does anyone in your practice have any vested interest with the Company?”
Ask them “Are you 100% live on the system?”
Ask them “Are you happy with their Customer Service?”
Ask them “Do your support requests get resolved in a timely manner?”
Ask them “If you had to purchase another EMR, would you purchase this EMR again?”
Get the Doctors and Technicians involved in the Final Selection Process
Be wary of Misleading Sales Demo Techniques
Require the demonstrator enter all new data for an entire New Patient Visit
Pay attention to how much customization will be required before the EMR can be useful to your practice
When things appear to happen quickly, ask the demonstrator exactly what they are doing on the keyboard/mouse
Some EMR demonstrators will prepare windows and minimize them, then pop them up quickly in an effort to mask the steps necessary to navigate to that area. Require them to close it and open the same screen again if you are suspicious of this.

11. How to Select an EMR Meaningful Use Features to Look For
Does the Meaningful Use Measure Calculation Report help you understand and correct measure specific issues?

12. How to Select an EMR Meaningful Use Features to Look For
Does the EMR have the capability to submit Clinical Summaries to a cost effective Patient Web Portal?
If so, how much does it cost and do you need a secure web server?
Does the Interface to the Practice Management System transfer Race, Ethnicity, and Preferred Language to the EMR?
Can prescribed medications that originate in the patients EMR record transfer seamlessly TO the E-Rx solution?
Does the EMR system gather information from the patient’s record and only asks relevant questions, or does it require you to fill out a Long Meaningful Use Questionnaire for each visit?

13. Meaningful Use Resources
Visit and click the link for the Incentive Resource Center
Here you will find simplified resources specific to Ophthalmology to help you understand, register, attest, and achieve Meaningful Use
Here you will also find a copy of this presentation

14. Thank you for watching! Please visit us at our booth in the Exhibit Hall!
EyeMD EMR is a Certified Complete EMR designed specifically and only for Ophthalmology