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The requirement to adopt EHR systems does not apply to home health agencies, as the article below indicates.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act - enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - creates incentives under the Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS), Medicare Advantage (MA), and Medicaid programs for Eligible Providers (EPs), eligible hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) to adopt and demonstrate meaningful use of certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology. Additionally, the Act creates payment adjustments (penalties) under the Medicare FFS and MA programs for EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs who fail to adopt and demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology for cost reporting periods beginning in FY 2015. It seems the big question is… does this include home health agencies?
Question: Does the government require home health agencies to adopt EHR technology?
Answer: Home health agencies are NOT considered EPs because they are not listed explicitly under statute, and are thus not eligible for incentives and will not be penalized for failure to adopt EHR technology. (See Federal Register, page 172.) The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) indicate that while facilities like home health agencies will not be considered eligible to participate in these incentives, some of the EPs at these facilities may be eligible. This flowchart provides guidelines for EP eligibility:http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/downloads/eligibility_flow_chart.pdf
NOTE: Do not confuse EHR with Electronic Medical Record (EMR). The National Alliance for Health Information Technology defines EHR as "an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff across more than one health care organization." Again, this is not to be confused with EMR, which is "an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff within one health care organization.
Source: http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/