Resources:
www.forwardhealth.wi.gov
www.ehrincentives.cms.gov
www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/
www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/
www.metastar.com/
Tips for Medicaid’s Promoting Interoperability Application Process
Kevin Cleary, Health IT Project Specialist, discusses Medicaid's Promoting Ring Interoperability application process.
Resources:
www.forwardhealth.wi.gov
www.ehrincentives.cms.gov
www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/
www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/
www.metastar.com/
Resources:
www.forwardhealth.wi.gov
www.ehrincentives.cms.gov
www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/
www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/
www.metastar.com/
Featuring:
Kevin Cleary, MPH
Kevin Cleary is a Project Specialist at MetaStar, where he supports practices and providers participating in the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability program. Today he’s sharing with us information about what is needed during the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program application process for program year 2019. Transcription:
Alyne Ellis (Host): Kevin Cleary is a Health IT Project Specialist at MetaStar where he supports practices and providers participating in the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program. Today, he’ll tell us what is needed during the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program application process for program year 2019.
This is MetaStar IT Radio, the podcast from MetaStar. I’m Alyne Ellis. Hi Kevin.
Kevin Cleary, MPH, CPHQ (Guest): Hello, thanks for having me.
Host: What is Medicaid Promoting Interoperability?
Kevin: That’s a great question. So, Medicaid Promoting Interoperability was created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2011, establishing the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs which is now known as the Promoting Interoperability Program and ultimately, it’s to encourage clinicians, hospitals, critical access hospitals to adopt, implement, upgrade or demonstrate meaningful use of a certified EHR technology. And so this podcast is very timely because the last 90 days reporting period started October 3, 2019.
Host: And what is Medicaid’s Promoting Interoperability Application process?
Kevin: So, the application process takes place on the Wisconsin ForwardHealth portal which is www.forwardhealth.wi.gov and within that portal, providers will want to access – they will log in and they will locate the providers tab and ultimately that is where they gain access to the application portal.
Host: And what are some of the tips from the field that you have for Medicaid enrolled providers who are starting on the application process?
Kevin: Yeah, of course. So, I would recommend Googling or just searching whichever search engine promoting interoperability programs registration system or www.ehrincentives.cms.gov and this is a really good place to start to ensure that all of your providers are registered to your organization or clinic and that’s just a really good place to start.
Host: And what are some of the important dates that you need to watch for coming up?
Kevin: So, there are two. The first one has already passed in which is the ForwardHealth being already open, so I encourage those providers or their clinic managers to go in and just ensure that all of their contact information is up to date and then finally, the last important date is March 31, 2020 and that is when all of the applications for the program are ultimately due.
Host: So, of course there’s a lot of paperwork involved so what documentation do you suggest that providers and their staff have available when they are working through the application process on the ForwardHealth Portal?
Kevin: Of course. So, I would recommend taking a look at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) website which is www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/ehrincentives/professionals/reqdoc.htm and again, all of these web addresses will be linked on our MetaStar web page. But within that document that DHS puts out includes a lot of the required documentation which includes provider’s NPI numbers, which is the National Provider Identification Number as well as correct contact information. I would also have on hand the patient volume calculation which is for the specific 90 day period in which they are calculated from. I would recommend having their security risk assessment document including the date of completion and the person who actually completed it. All of that information on hand. I would also recommend having their promoting interoperability report also referred to as your dashboard or quality dashboard that is generated by your electronic health record. And then finally, the clinical quality measure report which again, is most likely generated by one’s electronic health record.
Host: And what actually needs to be uploaded as part of the application process?
Kevin: Yeah, so in addition to everything that I had just mentioned, providers will also need to upload their vendor letter or contract stating that the EHR, their electronic health record was in place during their reporting period and again, all of that information is done in that required documents weblink on the DHS website. One thing to note is that the system only allows certain file types which include pdfs, an Excel file or a Word document. It must be a single file and encrypted and each file must be no larger than two megabytes in size and ultimately, if the file is too large, an email can be sent to DHS Promoting Interoperability Program at www.dhs.wisconsin.gov with the subject line Eligible Professional Application Supporting Documentation.
Host: And how long after my application is submitted will my clinic receive the incentive payment?
Kevin: I think this is perhaps one of the questions that I answer most because I think everyone is incentivized by that payment of demonstrating promoting interoperability, but we often recommend the sooner that you get your application in, then the sooner you’ll get your incentive payment but usually it comes around six months after the application is submitted.
Host: And so what other tips do you have regarding this complicated process?
Kevin: I would just say document everything. Over documentation is better than no documentation. So, this would include time stamps, screen shots of clinical decision supports to examples of secure messages sent to patients. So, for instance if you have a flu clinic coming up, I would take a screen shot of that message going out to the patients accessing the portal and ultimately all of these things will be used or could be used in an audit situation.
Host: Now you’ve mentioned a bunch of websites already but where would someone go for more information?
Kevin: Yeah of course. I would first start with www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/ehrincentives/index.htm or www.metastar.com/healthitextension and so those two places will have a plethora of information to get one started on their journey towards the application process.
Host: Thanks Kevin for talking us through Medicaid’s Promoting Interoperability Application Process. Kevin Cleary is a Health IT Project Specialist at MetaStar. For more information on this topic and to access resources that were mentioned please visit www.metastar.com/podcast. Thanks for checking out this episode of MetaStar IT Radio. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out our entire podcast library for other topics that may be of interest to you. I’m Alyne Ellis. Thanks for listening.
Alyne Ellis (Host): Kevin Cleary is a Health IT Project Specialist at MetaStar where he supports practices and providers participating in the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program. Today, he’ll tell us what is needed during the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program application process for program year 2019.
This is MetaStar IT Radio, the podcast from MetaStar. I’m Alyne Ellis. Hi Kevin.
Kevin Cleary, MPH, CPHQ (Guest): Hello, thanks for having me.
Host: What is Medicaid Promoting Interoperability?
Kevin: That’s a great question. So, Medicaid Promoting Interoperability was created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2011, establishing the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs which is now known as the Promoting Interoperability Program and ultimately, it’s to encourage clinicians, hospitals, critical access hospitals to adopt, implement, upgrade or demonstrate meaningful use of a certified EHR technology. And so this podcast is very timely because the last 90 days reporting period started October 3, 2019.
Host: And what is Medicaid’s Promoting Interoperability Application process?
Kevin: So, the application process takes place on the Wisconsin ForwardHealth portal which is www.forwardhealth.wi.gov and within that portal, providers will want to access – they will log in and they will locate the providers tab and ultimately that is where they gain access to the application portal.
Host: And what are some of the tips from the field that you have for Medicaid enrolled providers who are starting on the application process?
Kevin: Yeah, of course. So, I would recommend Googling or just searching whichever search engine promoting interoperability programs registration system or www.ehrincentives.cms.gov and this is a really good place to start to ensure that all of your providers are registered to your organization or clinic and that’s just a really good place to start.
Host: And what are some of the important dates that you need to watch for coming up?
Kevin: So, there are two. The first one has already passed in which is the ForwardHealth being already open, so I encourage those providers or their clinic managers to go in and just ensure that all of their contact information is up to date and then finally, the last important date is March 31, 2020 and that is when all of the applications for the program are ultimately due.
Host: So, of course there’s a lot of paperwork involved so what documentation do you suggest that providers and their staff have available when they are working through the application process on the ForwardHealth Portal?
Kevin: Of course. So, I would recommend taking a look at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) website which is www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/ehrincentives/professionals/reqdoc.htm and again, all of these web addresses will be linked on our MetaStar web page. But within that document that DHS puts out includes a lot of the required documentation which includes provider’s NPI numbers, which is the National Provider Identification Number as well as correct contact information. I would also have on hand the patient volume calculation which is for the specific 90 day period in which they are calculated from. I would recommend having their security risk assessment document including the date of completion and the person who actually completed it. All of that information on hand. I would also recommend having their promoting interoperability report also referred to as your dashboard or quality dashboard that is generated by your electronic health record. And then finally, the clinical quality measure report which again, is most likely generated by one’s electronic health record.
Host: And what actually needs to be uploaded as part of the application process?
Kevin: Yeah, so in addition to everything that I had just mentioned, providers will also need to upload their vendor letter or contract stating that the EHR, their electronic health record was in place during their reporting period and again, all of that information is done in that required documents weblink on the DHS website. One thing to note is that the system only allows certain file types which include pdfs, an Excel file or a Word document. It must be a single file and encrypted and each file must be no larger than two megabytes in size and ultimately, if the file is too large, an email can be sent to DHS Promoting Interoperability Program at www.dhs.wisconsin.gov with the subject line Eligible Professional Application Supporting Documentation.
Host: And how long after my application is submitted will my clinic receive the incentive payment?
Kevin: I think this is perhaps one of the questions that I answer most because I think everyone is incentivized by that payment of demonstrating promoting interoperability, but we often recommend the sooner that you get your application in, then the sooner you’ll get your incentive payment but usually it comes around six months after the application is submitted.
Host: And so what other tips do you have regarding this complicated process?
Kevin: I would just say document everything. Over documentation is better than no documentation. So, this would include time stamps, screen shots of clinical decision supports to examples of secure messages sent to patients. So, for instance if you have a flu clinic coming up, I would take a screen shot of that message going out to the patients accessing the portal and ultimately all of these things will be used or could be used in an audit situation.
Host: Now you’ve mentioned a bunch of websites already but where would someone go for more information?
Kevin: Yeah of course. I would first start with www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/ehrincentives/index.htm or www.metastar.com/healthitextension and so those two places will have a plethora of information to get one started on their journey towards the application process.
Host: Thanks Kevin for talking us through Medicaid’s Promoting Interoperability Application Process. Kevin Cleary is a Health IT Project Specialist at MetaStar. For more information on this topic and to access resources that were mentioned please visit www.metastar.com/podcast. Thanks for checking out this episode of MetaStar IT Radio. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out our entire podcast library for other topics that may be of interest to you. I’m Alyne Ellis. Thanks for listening.