Helping Physicians Receive Medicare and Medicaid Incentive Payments; e-MDs Supporting Efforts of Texas Regional Extension Centers and their Partners

AUSTIN, Texas, June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- e-MDs, a physician-led industry leading provider of electronic health records (EHRs), announced that a significant number of their Texas providers who use the e-MDs Chart EHR have qualified to receive incentive payments under the ARRA/HITECH program.  Many of these have benefited from the services provided by the 4 Texas Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers (RECs) and their affiliates.  This year, 21 e-MDs providers have qualified for first year Medicaid incentive payments of $21,250 per provider from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) with many more expected to qualify in the near future.  A growing number of e-MDs users are receiving $18,000 Medicare Meaningful Use incentive payments. e-MDs anticipates that with the help of the Texas RECs and their partners several hundred of their current users will qualify for incentives payments under the Medicaid and Medicare programs this year.

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From the outset of the program, e-MDs encouraged doctors to pursue the opportunity to apply for the CMS Incentive Program and to reach out to the RECs in their region.  e-MDs has provided numerous free resources such as webinars to guide physicians through the meaningful use process and how to use e-MDs Chart to meet the requirements.  Clients have been able to take advantage of valuable consulting services offered as part of working with the REC and their partners.  Services provided include education on how to refine the use of the e-MDs EHR in a way that meets the Meaningful Use requirements, assistance with the registration and attestation process, practice workflow consulting, and training for REC staff members and their affiliates, and an ongoing series of free webinars.

e-MDs worked closely with the state's Regional Extension Centers (RECs) and with our providers to get certified EHR technology installed in practices before January 1, 2011.  Dr. Chris Wilson, an OB/GYN with Gynics Associates in Austin, TX, recognized e-MDs and CentrEast REC, one of the 4 Texas RECs, for his success and incentive eligibility.  "We are so pleased that we have received reimbursement from the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.  It certainly helps make our EMR purchase more affordable," said Dr. Wilson. "Many thanks to the great personnel at CentrEast REC and e-MDs in guiding us through this process.  We look forward to working with the CentrEast REC and e-MDs as we continue our EMR implementation."  Similarly, South Austin Medical Clinic's Dr. Eric Weidmann achieved MU successfully through the help of both e-MDs and CentrEast REC.  "Solution Series™ has empowered my nine provider family practice group to achieve Meaningful Use in the first three months of 2011. Support videos and online training from e-MDs accelerated my staff into the retooling teamwork that has allowed us to complete attestation for six of nine providers utilizing the January to March 2011 data," said Dr. Weidmann. "We are turning our focus to 2012 criteria with the help of CentrEast Regional Extension Center."

"e-MDs Chart has a long tradition of being the most physician friendly EHR available, as evidenced by the rapidly growing number of providers in Texas and across the nation who have been amongst the first group to receive MU incentive payments," stated Michael Stearns, MD, president and CEO of e-MDs.  "We have enjoyed working with the dedicated and knowledgeable staff members of the CentrEast and the other Texas RECs and their affiliates; as we share a common goal of improving the quality of healthcare provided to the citizens of Texas.  We are hopeful that our combined efforts will encourage the use of health information technology in a way that markedly benefits patient-centric and community-centric care."

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) EHR Incentive Programs provide financial incentives for the Meaningful Use of certified EHR technology to achieve health and efficiency goals. By putting into action and meaningfully using an EHR system, providers reap benefits beyond financial incentives–such as reduction in errors, availability of records and data, reminders and alerts, clinical decision support, and e-prescribing/refill automation. For more information on CMS incentive programs, please visit www.cms.gov.

To learn more about e-MDs, please visit www.e-MDs.com.

Media Contact:
Kailey Lord, (512) 716-8243, [email protected]

About e-MDs

e-MDs is a leading developer of integrated electronic health records and practice management software for physician practices and enterprises.  Founded and actively managed by physicians, the company is an industry leader for usable, connected software that enables physician productivity and clinical excellence.  e-MDs software has received continual top rankings in physician and industry surveys including those conducted by the American Academy of Family Physicians and KLAS.  For more information, please visit www.e-mds.com, http://www.facebook.com/emdsehr, and twitter.com/emds.  

SOURCE e-MDs