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ARRA – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009, and includes the HITECH Act. See HITECH Act for more information.
ASP Model – A remotely hosted system accessed via the internet using a virtual private network (VPN) or a private network to protect against security issues. The remote system is managed by an IT company for a monthly fee. The upfront cost for an ASP model is low, but constant for every month you utilize the service. This model does not require your office to purchase or maintain any servers, which are the greatest hardware expense of a system. The ASP provider should also handle backups and disaster recovery for you. A potential downfall to this model is that it can be slower than the client/server model because the server is located offsite.
CCHIT – The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology is a non-profit that certifies EHRs based on several measures of quality and performance. CCHIT was awarded a three-year contract to develop certification criteria and manage an inspection process for certifying EHRs and the health information exchanges that transport patient information. That contract is currently being reviewed and is likely to be renewed.
Client/Server Model – A locally hosted system that is managed by your office. You have control over protecting your data and maintaining the server. The system can also be faster because the server is stored onsite. The downfall to the client/server model is that it has high upfront hardware and software costs and requires the availability of at least one technical resource to maintain the system.
CMS – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
EHR – An electronic health record is a system that digitally integrates clinical facets of a practice, such as patient charts, with administrative facets, such as patient check-in and billing.
EHR system – The system, software and hardware used by a REC Provider Member to maintain individual electronic health records pertaining to the REC Provider Member's patients that is to be interconnected to the HIE and that is expected to achieve meaningful use.
Eligible PCP (Eligible Provider) – A Medicare and/or Medicaid healthcare professional with prescriptive privileges who primarily focuses on providing primary care in (1) individual and small group practices (defined as ten or fewer professionals with prescribing privileges), (2) public and critical-access hospitals, (3) Federally Qualified Health Centers, Community Health Centers and Rural health Clinics, and (4) other settings that predominantly serve uninsured, underinsured and medically-underserved populations.
Eligible PCP Member – A RI REC Provider Member that also meets the following criteria as defined by ARRA: a Medicare and/or Medicaid healthcare professional with prescriptive privileges who primarily focuses on providing primary care in (1) individual and small group practices (defined as ten or fewer professionals with prescribing privileges), (2) public and critical access hospitals, (3) Federally Qualified Health Centers, Community Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics, and (4) other settings that predominantly serve uninsured, underinsured and medically underserved populations.
EMR – An electronic medical record is the physician-controlled part of an EHR, including patient charts. Despite their distinct definitions, EMR and EHR often are used interchangeably.
E-Prescribing – A feature of EHRs that allows physicians to electronically create and send prescriptions to pharmacies. E-prescribing capabilities often include drug interaction and allergy warnings to improve quality.
Go Live – During EHR adoption, the point at which your practice starts use of an EHR as a primary system of clinical information.
HIE – A health information exchange or network, such as the Rhode Island Quality Institute’s currentcare, that allows for the exchange of healthcare information between organizations or physicians.
HITECH Act – The ARRA, which was signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009, contains the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, known as the HITECH Act. Initial reports announce that the HITECH Act includes $19.2 billion to improve HIT and stimulate the economy. This includes $2 billion for infrastructure and $17.2 billion for incentives through Medicare and Medicaid. This adds up to about $33K per provider to defray the costs of EMRs. This is a strategic reimbursement program—you must make the investment in an EHR and become a meaningful user before you get any incentive payments.
Incentive Award Funds – The funding to be provided to a REC Provider Member upon the completion of a Readiness Assessment and upon the completion of a meaningful use audit.
Meaningful use - This term shall be defined from time to time by CMS through a formal rulemaking process by the Secretary of the United State Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS, or HHS).
ONC – The Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology within DHHS, and any successor agency.
PMS – A practice management system is software that helps plan day-to-day logistics and operations in a medical practice. An EHR and PMS are not the same. EHRs deal with the clinical side of the practice, and PMSs help run the administrative and financial sides.
Provider Member – A provider who is a member of the REC and enrolled in the EHR Adoption Program, and agrees to the terms and conditions under which such provider may access the services made available by the REC as set forth herein.
Power-Users/ Physician Champions – In-house personnel who volunteer to lead, research, and provide support for an EHR transition. Power-users know the system inside and out and can help answer questions from the rest of the staff.
Qualified Vendor – An organization (EHR or Technical Service Consultant) that demonstrates a willingness to work with the RI REC to coordinate statewide activities for the implementation of electronic health records and is capable of contributing to statewide interoperability via the state's HIE network, currentcare, and is qualified to successfully assist providers in achieving meaningful use.
RI REC – The Rhode Island Regional Extension Center, a non-profit service of the Rhode Island Quality Institute that is designated as the REC.
ROI – Return on investment.
Vendor Marketplace – All qualified vendors who have been approved to provide services to the RI REC Provider Members.
