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Alyne Ellis (Host):   MetaStar Health IT Radio is a podcast series that features consulting content experts and covers topics regarding the Wisconsin Medicaid EHR incentive program Promoting Interoperability, formerly Meaningful Use, as well as a behavioral healthy technical assistance initiative. Episodes covered will guide your practice, clinic, hospital, or hospital system through the complex federal and state requirements of the Promoting Interoperability programs. MetaStar has helped more than 2,000 providers attest to Promoting Interoperability as Wisconsin’s Regional Extension Center since 2010 and continues to provide attestation assistance and audit preparation as a consulting service. I'm Alyne Ellis and I'm joined today by Kevin Cleary, a project specialist at MetaStar where he supports practices and providers participating in the Medicaid PI program. Today he's sharing with us information about what is needed during the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability program application process from program year 2020. Welcome Kevin.  

Kevin Cleary, MPH, CPHQ (Guest):   Hello. Thank you for having me.

Host:   So first of all, let’s start with what is Medicaid’s Promoting Interoperability?

Kevin:   That’s a great question to start off this podcast. So Medicaid Promoting Interoperability began in 2011 which was funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, also known as CMS, helped to established the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, which are now known as the Promoting Interoperability programs, ultimately to encourage clinicians, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals to adopt, implement, and upgrade and ultimately to demonstrate use of Certified Electronic Health technology. So this podcast is very timely because the forward health portal opens on October 1, 2020. The last 90 day reporting period starts October 3, 2020.

Host:   So what is the Medicaid PI application process?

Kevin:   So the application process is all done electronically through the Wisconsin Forward Health Portal, which can be found at fowardhealth.wi.gov. Through that you'll have to log in to providers or office managers or clinic managers on their behalf will have to log in and will need to locate the providers tab to gain access to the application portal.

Host:   So what are some of the tips from the field for Medicaid and role providers who start their application process?

Kevin:    That’s a great question. So I would begin by googling Promoting Interoperability programs registration system. Ultimately this is a great way to update not only your clinic or organization’s contact information including provider names and address and contact information, but also I would recommend going to ehrincentives.cms.gov. I know I'm referencing a lot of web addresses, but those will be shared as part of the resource on the MetaStar webpage.

Host:   What are some of the important dates coming up?

Kevin:   Yes, of course. So as I had previously mentioned, the Wisconsin Forward Health Portal, which again is where the application system is located, opens on October 1, 2020. The last 90 days of 2020 on the Promoting Interoperability Program begins October 3. Finally which is a change from previous years is that all applications need to be received by Wisconsin Department of Health Services by January 31, 2020 which is two months earlier than previous years which was initially March 31^st of the succeeding year. This year it’s January 31^st. So it’s important to note that.

Host:   So what documentation do you suggest providers and their staff have available when they're working through the application process on the Forward Health Portal?

Kevin:   So knowing that there’s a lot of data input through the Forward Health Portal, these are my suggestions as to what to have on hand while updating the application system. First would be the providers and PI number with the updated contact information. I would also have on hand the patient volume calculation including the specific 90 day period in which it was calculated, a copy of the EHR vendor letter or contract between the vender and process, the security risk assessment document including the date of completion and the person responsible for completion, which is oftentimes the clinic manager. We would also need the Promoting Interoperability report which is also often referred to as the dashboard or quality dashboard. This is ultimately the report generated by the electronic health record. Lastly the clinical quality measure reports. MetaStar is actually creating a reference sheet for these different aspects into a checklist. So be on the lookout for that on the MetaStar webpage as well.

Host:   So what actually needs to be uploaded as part of the application process?

Kevin:   So in addition to everything that I previously mentioned including, again, aspects of the vendor letter or contracts stating that EHR was in place during the reporting period, I would also suggest taking a look at the dhs.wisconsin.gov/ehrincentives/professionals/reqdoc.htm for a full list of everything that needs to be uploaded as part of the application process. To note the system only allows certain file types of a PDF or Excel or Word document format and must be a single encrypted file, and each file must be no larger than two megabytes in size. Then finally if a file is too large, in a single encrypted email please email DHS at dhspromotinginteroperabiltyprogram@dhs.wisconsin.gov with the subject line of the email “Eligible Professional Application Supporting Documentation”.

Host:   How long after my application is submitted will my clinic receive the incentive payment?

Kevin:   So we recommend providing your application sooner within that reporting period because the sooner that you provide that application more likely than not you’ll receive your incentive payment sooner. It can take upwards of 90 days to process an application. So we can expect payment sometime after 90 days after the application is actually submitted.

Host:   Are there any other tips to pass along regarding this process?

Kevin:   Yes. MetaStar highly suggests documenting everything from timestamp screenshots of clinical decision supports to example secure messages sent to patients. All of these are really quite important considering the Department of Health Services might come back and ask in an audit for some of these things. So in any situation that you're able to take screenshots of what was provided to a patient or any sort of workflows that were implemented in the clinic, we would highly suggest taking and documenting those.

Host:   Where would someone go for more information?

Kevin:   So, again, I would recommend going to dhs.wisconsin.gov/ehrincentive program or metastar.com/healthitextension. Again, all of these web addresses will be shared on the MetaStar webpage with links to all of the various resources that I've shared during this podcast today.

Host:   Kevin, is there anything else you would like to add?

Kevin:   Not at this moment, but I wish everyone good luck in stage three reporting for program year 2020.

Host:  Thank you Kevin for sharing this information about what’s needed during the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program application process for program year 2020. Kevin Cleary is a project specialist at MetaStar where he supports practices and providers participating in the Medicaid PI program. Thanks for checking out this episode of MetaStar Health IT Radio. For more information on this topic and to access resources mentioned, please visit metastar.com/podcast. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks and we’ll talk next time.