Jim Tate
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Articles by Jim Tate
Episodic care to Patient-Centered Continuity of Care
Posted By: Jim Tate November 10, 2021 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Twitter: @jimtate My recent interview with Robin Hill is not to be missed. Robin is the Chief Clinical Officer at Vivify Health and is a Registered Nurse with over 30 years of healthcare experience in both acute and post-acute care. I trust you will learn as much as I did during this extended conversation as Robin shares her knowledge and experience.
Real World Testing - Certified Health Record Technology
Posted By: Jim Tate November 4, 2021 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches The 21st Century Cures Act established Conditions and Maintenance of Certification for the ONC Health IT Certification Program. The regulation outlines seven conditions of Certification that cover issues ranging from information blocking to interoperability.
Massive Amount of Health Data Requires Intelligent Applications
Posted By: Jim Tate July 19, 2021 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Twitter: @jimtate I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Eric Rock on my radio show, The Tate Chronicles. Eric is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vivify Health, a mobile digital health platform. The massive amount of data that flows throughout the healthcare domain requires intelligent applications that can bring empowerment to health plans and provider organizations.
EHRs in the Wild: Real World Testing for Certified Health Record Technology (CEHRT)
Posted By: Jim Tate April 19, 2021 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches One of the more common complaints heard from providers concerns their unhappiness with EHRs. Sure, the software can boast of achieving ONC Certification but what does that really mean in the real world of patients, referrals, and communication with other providers?
Increasing Safety, Reducing Costs, and Improving Quality with Dr. Andrew Mellin
Posted By: Jim Tate December 3, 2020 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Twitter: @jimtate Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Dr. Andrew Mellin is a VP and Chief Medical Information Officer at Surescripts (@Surescripts). He has over 20 years of experience in health information technology, patient quality and safety, consumer health and EHR implementation and adoption. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and worked as a hospitalist in St. Paul, MN for 15 years.
Sustainable Telehealth: Security Risk Analysis
Posted By: Jim Tate September 19, 2020 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Whether you are a solo practice or a large hospital system, the requirement to protect electronic health information is mandated. HIPAA regulations tell us that “all e-PHI created, received, maintained or transmitted by an organization is subject to the Security Rule”.
Sustainable Telehealth: Business Associate Agreements
Posted By: Jim Tate September 16, 2020 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches The foundation of sustainable telehealth must provide for the protection of Personal Health Information (PHI). One of the primary issues that should be addressed is the need for Business Associate Agreements (BAAs).
Sustainable Telehealth: Clinical Quality Measures
Posted By: Jim Tate September 8, 2020 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches The COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020 disrupted the normal process of healthcare delivery in the US. At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 many elective procedures and surgeries were postponed. Patients did not want to go to their provider’s office, and providers did not want them to come in.
Sustainable Telehealth: Malpractice Insurance
Posted By: Jim Tate August 26, 2020 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Due to the Covid-19 pandemic a widespread adoption of telehealth technologies took place in matter of weeks. Only now, during the transition to what is being called “Sustainable Telehealth”, are some fundamental questions being asked.
Sustainable Telehealth: Legislation
By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches On August 3, 2020 President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Improving Rural Health and Telehealth Access”. This Order contained statements that demonstrate a commitment to make permanent a significant number of the temporary measures that promoted the widespread acceptance and adoption of telehealth services during the Public Health Emergency (PHE).
Sustainable Telehealth: HIPAA
By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches The national Emergency Declaration due to the COVID-19 pandemic came suddenly and without warning. Healthcare providers found it necessary to acquire, implement, and begin using telehealth technology in a matter of weeks.
Telehealth: The Wild West
Posted By: Jim Tate June 4, 2020 By Jim Tate, Chief Product Officer, MediVisum Telehealth Solutions Twitter: @jimtate Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches In the early days of EHR adoption providers found it almost impossible to decide which system to purchase. There were no standards regarding the functionality that should be included. It was the Wild West and without a consensus definition of what made up a “Complete EHR” providers were in a sea of confusion and disappointment.
Clinician Burnout and Workflow Efficiency on The Tate Chronicles
Posted By: Jim Tate April 15, 2020 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Twitter: @jimtate On a recent episode of my radio show, I had the opportunity to speak with Daniel Colling HP’s Global Healthcare Industry Solutions, Imaging, Printing and Solutions Manager on Clinician burnout and workflow efficiency. Clinician burnout is not just a buzzword but a modern day environment brought on by the adoption of health information technology.
Patient Safety at the Point of Care on The Tate Chronicles
Posted By: Jim Tate March 19, 2020 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Twitter: @jimtate On a recent episode of my radio show, I had the opportunity to speak with Raja Bhadury, the Care Delivery Program Manager for Hewlett-Packard’s Global Healthcare Industry Solutions division on patient safety at the point of care.
Healthcare IT as an Enterprise on The Tate Chronicles
Posted By: Jim Tate March 3, 2020 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Twitter: @jimtate State of healthcare IT: where are we in the trajectory? On a recent episode of my radio show, I had the opportunity to talk to Reid Oakes (@reidoakes) the Global Head & General Manager of Health Industries for Hewlett-Packard. Reid leads Worldwide Healthcare Industry strategy for HP and has a long history in the healthcare field focused on innovation and strategic solutions.
MACRA – MIPS: The First Cut is the Lightest | Health IT Answers
Posted By: Jim Tate January 9, 2020 By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate MACRA/MIPS Subject Matter Expert Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Some folks prefer Rod Stewart’s cover of the song The First Cut is the Deepest but I have to admit I favor the rendition by Cat Stevens. No matter your preference, I’m pretty sure neither one of them was singing about the MACRA – MIPS program.
RCM Answers - MGMA Moments
I returned to the MGMA Annual conference after having missed it for several years. This year the conference was in New Orleans earlier this month. While there I caught up several people willing to discuss today’s healthcare challenges and solutions. And I am happy to share the return of the MGMA Moments. And here are two to start with.
Dental Practice’s Response to Yelp Review Leads to $10,000 Fine
By Art Gross, President and CEO, HIPAA Secure Now! Twitter: @HIPAASecureNow Read other articles by this author When it’s YOU in the Review Making dinner plans? Check online for reviews before you spend your money dining out. Ready to book a vacation? You’re definitely making sure the pool is as big as they say it is. How about when it comes to personal care? Do you check online to see if a medical facility is up to par? A lot of people do.
CMS, MACRA-MIPS, and Drawing the Short Straw
By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate MACRA/MIPS Subject Matter Expert Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Now, I’m not a mathematician, but I can count to ten. So, I wasn’t expecting any problems when I decided to look at the recently released MIPS Final Scores for the 2017 reporting period. It is a bit hard to find the Final Scores as they are not viewable on the Profile Pages at the Physician Compare website hosted at Medicare.gov.
2017 MIPS Final Scores: Are Small Practices Being Left Behind?
By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate MACRA/MIPS Subject Matter Expert Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches 2017 was the first reporting year for MACRA/MIPS (Quality Payment Program). Only recently has it been possible to begin the deeper analysis of the data generated out of that year. We are now able to go to the CMS website, Physician Compare, to see some of the publicly reported data.
MIPS: Final Scores Released
By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate MACRA/MIPS Subject Matter Expert Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches After numerous delays the MIPS final scores for the 2017 reporting year have been released. These scores are based on a foundation on four individual categories: Cost, Quality, Improvement Activities, and Promoting Interoperability. For Eligible Clinicians (EC) the score will be generated on an annual basis with a scale of 0 – 100.
The Promise of Digital into Practical, Meaningful Results
By Sonia Singh – Create a consumer-grade digital experience for your patients — something that rivals the ease-of-use of Airbnb or Lyft — or risk being lapped in a race you can’t afford to lose. The post The Promise of Digital into Practical, Meaningful Results appeared first on Health Data Answers. Tags: DigitalintoMeaningfulPracticalPromiseResults
Countdown to HIMSS19: Precision Medicine & Blockchain
By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate MACRA/MIPS Subject Matter Expert Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches HIMSS19, the annual global conference with over 40,000 attendees, is just a scant two weeks away in Orlando. Since I began working in healthcare information technology some 15 years ago this is the only event I never miss. It is simply too important to not attend.
The Jury Returns: MACRA - MIPS and 2019 CEHRT Requirements
By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate MACRA/MIPS Subject Matter Expert Twitter: @jimtate, eMail: jimtate@emradvocate.com Host of The Tate Chronicles – #TateDispatches Back in August I wrote a post entitled, “MIPS and EHR Certification: Most Asked Question”. The issue at hand was when did MIPS eligible providers need to be using 2015 Edition Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT).
Blockchain & Healthcare: Has the Killer App Arrived?
Everywhere I look in healthcare technology I’m seeing claims that blockchain technology is the silver bullet. We are being told that distributed ledgers will solve all the pain points found in interoperability and soon data will flow like the mighty Mississippi River. Toss in a few smart contracts and insurance companies will evaporate as reimbursement for healthcare services will be totally under the command of computer code. One wishes it would all be so easy.
MIPS Data: The Finish Line is Crossed
The race is over, all the data is locked, and now we just wait for the results. The MIPS 2017 data submission period ended last week on April 3, 2018. The time for strategic planning and decision making is over. Submit on an individual or group basis? Choose this quality measure or that one? It simply doesn’t matter now. The window has closed on the opportunity to make those decisions. Now we just wait.
Specialist-Centric Systems Lead Small Physician Practice EHR Satisfaction, Black Book Survey
Integrated EHR PM RCM ICD10 vendor tools get top marks in the mined US outpatient market Black Book Research (@blackbookpolls) announced the top ambulatory EHR rankings as collected from 18,950 physician practices in client experience and satisfaction. Three hundred and forty EHR products received customer evaluations and seven vendors notably seized multiple medical or surgical specialist top ratings from the polling conducted from Q3 2017 to Q1 2018.
MACRA - MIPS: OIG Waves the Yellow Flag
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) last week released the Followup Review: CMS’s Management of The Quality Payment Program (QPP). In 2016 OIG published their initial assessment of the management of the QPP by CMS. This secondary release was to access progress made since that time. You can follow the hyperlink and read the entire report but here is what you need to know.
MIPS: The Day of Reckoning - Chapter 2 - The Fine Print
Last week I published a post entitled MIPS: The Day of Reckoning. That screed covered my thoughts on the predictability and inevitability of the impact of the first MIPS scores being publicly released in 2018. I will not bore you with how important those scores are. Suffice to say they will affect Medicare Part B reimbursement, professional reputation, provider compensation, practice value, and the ability to obtain and maintain loans.
7 Tips for Secure BYOD in Healthcare
It’s So Easy to Infiltrate If endpoint security – especially for smartphones – wasn’t a top-of-mind issue for healthcare IT leaders before, it certainly is now. I’ve spoken with numerous customers who struggle with it and are asking for guidance. At HIMSS this year I attended the CHIME CIO Forum which included a presentation by Kevin Mitnick, a former black hat hacker.
MIPS: The Day of Reckoning
One of my favorite books is The Big Short by Michael Lewis. It was eventually made into a movie by the same name and gives a clear view of the housing bubble that burst 10 years ago and pushed the US economy into the Great Recession. What fascinates me was the ability of some to predict, and profit, from knowing when the collapse would occur.
Transcript | Symplur
ProfileTweetJim Tate @jimtateWelcome to this week’s chat. I’m Jim Tate of EMR Advocate https://t.co/dQUcce26uV & MIPS Consulting https://t.co/qk6UiKtrWi. I’m looking forward to today’s discussion on #MIPS & #MACRA #hitsmHealthcare Scene @healthcaresceneRT @jimtate: Welcome to this week’s chat.
The Real MIPS Timeline: 3 Stages of MACRA and MIPS
Recently, when I googled “MIPS timeline” I got 174,000 results. There sure are lots of pretty charts and colorful graphs out there. Most of them will let you know when this will happen and when that will occur. When does the definition of Eligible Clinicians change? When does the Cost Category begin and how quickly will it escalate? Is there a deadline for forming Virtual Groups? You can go stir crazy trying to keep track of all the milestones.
MIPS 2018: The Die is Cast on Part B Drugs
Several weeks ago I wrote a post entitled “MIPS and Medicare Part B Drugs – Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop”. Late last week the other shoe hit the floor with the release of the Final Rule. The issue at hand is whether an Eligible Clinician’s (EC) MIPS score would impact not only their professional services reimbursement but also billed Medicare Part B drugs. These are often very expensive drugs and include those used in the treatment of such diseases as cancer and renal failure.
Weather Report: MIPS, Mark Twain, and Bob Dylan
“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it”. I’m pretty sure Mark Twain said that. We might as well say “Everybody talks about MIPS, but nobody does anything about it”. Well, hardly anybody. I hear lots of MIPS discussion about avoiding penalties, taking the easy path, and minimizing impact. Not too much actual action is taking place. What kind of action am I talking about? How about embracing the complexities of MIPS and developing a strategic action plan?
MIPS and Medicare Part B Drugs - Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
We are whiling away the time today on a visit to the piedmont of North Carolina. Even though it is October it feels like the dog days of August. Humidity off the charts and I don’t even want to look at the temperature. What’s a poor boy to do? I barely have the strength to raise the glass of lemonade to my parched lips. What little energy I have left only allows me to hit the “refresh” button on my computer browser about once an hour. What am I looking for? You know what it is.
MIPS: All Is Not As It Appears
The MACRA/MIPS program is complex enough without having to decide what is real and what is not. I recently wrote a post entitled “Fake News – MIPS Style” and in the past week I have come across additional examples of misleading information that only serves to muddy the waters. Sometimes it is not what is said but what is omitted that can be the problem. Here are a few items to be aware of in your quest to achieve a high MIPS score. The bottom line?
Fake News - MIPS Style
I sure hear a lot about fake news these days. In the world of politics, we hear a constant chant: “This is fake, that is fake, everything is fake”. I guess it is in the eye of the beholder as to what is true. There is the whole truth, the partial truth, misstatements of fact and downright Pinocchio lies. One person’s lie is another’s truth. I guess it has always been that way in politics. So, what does this have to do with MIPS?
MIPS 2017: Time Runneth Out
There is less than two weeks left on the clock. October 2nd is coming fast and brings the beginning of the last 90-day MIPS performance period for 2017. If plans have not already been made then this week is the last opportunity you will have to decide what to do if you are an Eligible Clinician (EC) impacted by MIPS. If there is any doubt about your participation status go here and enter your NPI number.
MIPS: Lawyers, Litigation, and Malpractice - HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News
In my previous post (MIPS: Loan Acquisition and Maintenance) I documented yet another reason that the achievement of a high MIPS score should be Priority One for Eligible Clinicians (EC). 2017 has been defined as the “Transition Year” for MACRA/MIPS and minimum standards have been put in place to allow ECs to squeak by with minimal effort to avoid 2019 Part B adjustments. Literally five minutes of work in 2017 will lead to the avoidance of 2019 penalties.
MIPS: Loan Acquisition and Maintenance - HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News
We have reflected in earlier posts the critical importance of achieving a high MIPS score. Reimbursment, practice value, and professional reputation are all directly impacted by a MIPS score. Here is yet another collateral impact of a MIPS score: the ability to obtain and maintain a loan. A tip of the hat to my friends in the healthcare finance business over at Grice, Pope and Associates who alerted me to this pearl of wisdom.
How to Truly Solve the Patient Engagement Problem with AI - HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News
By Waqaas Al-Siddiq, CEO and Founder of Biotricity Inc. Twitter: @biotricity_inc The most urgent problem facing the U.S. healthcare system today is cost. Traditional factions of political party affiliation, socio-economic status, and patient-payer-provider categorization all agree that the astronomical costs of the current system are not sustainable—and only increasing. Paradoxically, a staggering amount of these expenses are either preventable or reducible.
When the Levee Breaks: eClinicalWorks and the Politics of Deception - HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News
Who knows when the tree will fall, the bridge will fail, or the levee will break? The lawsuit against eClinicalWorks had been winding its way through the judicial system for two years. Suddenly an agreement was announced, and it is sending shock waves throughout the EMR industry. It was not intervention by HHS, ONC, or CMS that brought this to the surface. It was the Department of Justice and a False Claims Act lawsuit brought by a whistleblower.
When the Levee Breaks: eClinicalWorks and the Politics of Deception
It was not intervention by HHS, ONC, or CMS that brought this to the surface. It was the Department of Justice and a False Claims Act lawsuit brought by a whistle blower. The major EHR vendor was accused of all kind of shenanigans including faking ONC certification testing and paying kickbacks. As expected eCW “denies any wrongdoing” but will fork over $155 million with $30 million of that going to the whistle blower. I imagine his attorney will receive a nice slice of that key lime pie.
The Cure for Dysfunctional CDS - HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News
Effectively delivering clinical decision support (CDS) interventions to the point of care has proven to be a significant challenge for many hospitals and health systems. These projects often fail to drive meaningful improvements and, in some cases, make matters worse. One study found that clinicians ignore EHR safety notifications between 49 percent and 96 percent of the time, primarily due to alert fatigue.
The Open Secret of Health IT - The Emperor Has No Clothes - HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News
You can tell a lot about a person by asking them what their favorite fairy tale was when they were a child. Was it The Frog Prince, Little Red Riding Hood, or maybe Sleeping Beauty? For me it was The Emperor’s New Clothes. I love the part at the end when a child cries out, “But he isn’t wearing anything at all.” Sometimes we don’t need the eyes of a child to tell us what is obvious. It is the elephant in the room that everyone sees but doesn’t mention.
HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News - Importance of Backup and Recovery in a Virtualized Healthcare Environment
For the enterprise, virtualization is not a new concept – it’s been doing the rounds for over 10 years and Gartner officially labelled the technology ‘mature’ in its May 2016 market report. And no wonder, it’s hard to argue against the benefits of virtual machines – they cut maintenance and administration costs, they provide flexibility to meet the changing and growing demands of users, and allow an organization to make the most of its hardware and reduce the potential for downtime and data loss.
HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News - MIPS, Robert Frost, and the Four Options
It is not often we are given the opportunity to make a clear-cut decision. If you are anything like me, you chew on the bone of indecision until there is nothing left but the marrow. I make lists of the pros and cons of every major (and not so major) decision I need to make. Even after pulling the trigger and moving forward I am usually left with a sense that maybe I didn’t make the “perfect” choice.
HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News - MIPS: The Latest Urban Legend?
We have all heard them, the urban legends. Giant alligators in the sewers of New York City. The woman who put her poodle in the microwave to dry it off after a bath. And my personal favorite, the Vanishing Hitchhiker. Who doesn’t like to hear a good story about cock roaches in a bouffant hairdo? We know they aren’t true but we like them anyway. What harm can it be to hear and pass on these morbid tales that bring such delight? No harm at all.
HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News - Down the Rabbit Hole
Call it “bad luck”. Call it the “X factor”. Call it whatever you want. The purchase and implementation of health information technology (HIT) continues to exist in a domain that reminds me of the Wild West. Years ago, I experienced this dark corner from both sides of the equation. While working for a large specialty practice it became obvious that the costs of adequate training and necessary interfaces were not included in the initial HIT agreement.
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