Providers tune into EHR "meaningful use" incentives webcast

Hundreds of behavioral health providers tuned in Wednesday, September 22 for a detailed presentation,Meaningful use: What you need to know today to qualify for incentives, led by Kevin Scalia, a Netsmart Technologies executive vice president. Scalia has worked with many behavioral healthcare industry leaders on Capitol Hill to promote greater provider access to the “meaningful use” incentives for healthcare IT offered in the HITECH Act of ARRA, the federal stimulus legislation passed in early 2009.

In the webinar, Scalia explains:

• The origin and purpose of the HITECH Act;

• Current eligible provider incentives available to CMHCs and other behavioral health providers who adopt certified electronic health record (EHR) systems;

• How providers can maximize available incentives and minimize income penalties by acting quickly;

• Shortcomings in the act that limit current incentives for behavioral healthcare, but which may be remedied through new legislation currently making its way through the U.S. House and Senate, which could dramatically increase the incentives available to CMHCs and, for the first time, include inpatient psychiatric hospitals in meaningful use incentive programs ;

• A gap analysis process used by a Florida-based CMHC to identify and remedy workflow issues as part of an ongoing EHR implementation;

Scalia then fielded a dozen or more questions from the group. The recorded webcast, presentation slides, and question-answer discussion are all immediately available to users who register at https://tinyurl.com/mu-needtoknow.