EHR Incentive and Meaningful Use
Over the last few years, it has become common knowledge that Medicaid is offering $63,000 per doctor to implement a “Certified EHR” in their practice. Many have discovered that it is relatively simple for each doctor to receive $21,250.00 upon enrolling in the program, by simple virtue of meeting a 30% threshold for seeing patients and signing up to implement a “Certified” EHR product. However, many practices who have received their initial check, are now finding it difficult to continue collecting the monies tied to proving Meaningful Use… we can help.
Medicaid Incentive Payments Overview:
- One incentive payment per year.
- Incentives are same regardless of start year.
- First payment is $21,250.
- Maximum incentive dollars are $63,750 over six years.
- To receive incentive payments, practices must enroll by 2016.
Medicaid Incentives
We’ve found the most common reason behind “The Meaningful Use Dilemma” is because the primary software application that practices are using for their office is not truly designed for pediatric dentistry, the unique challenges presented by caring for children (minors), the constant struggle between volume and quality, and a whole host of topics, the least of which being that the regulatory concerns of today’s programs like HIPAA and Medicaid are not built right into the application. As we have been helping our clients pursue Meaningful Use, we really wanted to evolve their understanding that this program can be a positive change versus a negative government obligation. In fact, as we designed our technology for compliance, we did so with one guiding principle: How can we make the most of these concepts to improve health care be something that every pediatric dentist would WANT to use even if they operate a “fee for service practice” only? We are excited to have succeeded in this mission, and the vast majority of our clients use our products comprehensively. After all, why wouldn’t a pediatric dentist want Mom to have a simple “family management patient portal” to interface with the practice on things like health history information, and consents?
Driven by our relationship-based values for serving our clients (98% of which are pediatric dentists), we chose to embark on the mission of becoming a “Certified Electronic Health Record”. The KSB Dental team has a 25+ year legacy of serving pediatric dentists, with a massive investment in highly specialized software encompassing everything from scheduling, insurance and the common business functions, to impeccable clinical charting (standard pediatric concepts like evolving mixed dentition, congenitally missing teeth, and supernumerary)… just to name a
few. The DOX|Pedo Technology Suite administers all of these, as well as orthodontics and eServices to support high level family interaction.
The truth is we feel it is a shame for those clients who are deserving of the “incentive bonus” (by virtue of having accommodated this significant volume of disadvantaged children) to miss the enrollment window. Especially, when we fully expect the digital record-keeping requirements promoted in the program to in fact become federal requirements for all practices in the very near future.
