The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) named InfoGard Laboratories, Inc., San Luis Obispo, Calif. as an ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB). The addition of InfoGard Laboratories, Inc. as an ONC-ATCB provides more options for EHR vendors to have their products tested and certified for compliance with the standards and certification criteria that were issued by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year.
Certification of EHRs is part of a broad initiative undertaken by Congress and President Obama under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. HITECH created new incentive payment programs to help health providers as they transition from paper-based medical records to EHRs. Incentive payments totaling as much as $27 billion may be made under the program. Individual physicians and other eligible professionals can receive up to $44,000 through Medicare and almost $64,000 through Medicaid. Hospitals can receive millions. To qualify for the incentive payments offered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) providers must not only adopt, but also demonstrate the meaningful use of, certified EHR systems. ONC authorized the first two ONC-ATCBs in late August, 2010. Additional applications are under review. For more information about the ONC certification programs visit http://healthit.hhs.gov/certification. To learn more about InfoGard Laboratories, Inc. visit www.infogard.com <http://www.infogard.com/> Information about the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, may be found at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- September Flu Shot Reminder Vaccinate Early to Protect Against the Flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a yearly flu vaccination as the first and most important step in protecting against flu viruses. Medicare pays for the flu vaccine and its administration for seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries with no co-pay or deductible. This year's vaccine will protect against three different flu viruses, including the H1N1 virus that caused so much illness last flu season. Take advantage of each office visit and start protecting your patients as soon as your 2010-2011 seasonal flu vaccine arrives. And, don't forget to immunize yourself and your staff. Get Your Flu Vaccine - Not the Flu. Remember - Influenza vaccine plus its administration are covered Part B benefits. Note that influenza vaccine is NOT a Part D covered drug. For information about Medicare's coverage of the influenza vaccine and its administration, as well as related educational resources for health care professionals and their staff, please visit http://www.cms.gov/AdultImmunizations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- Note: If you have problems accessing any hyperlink in this message, please copy and paste the URL into your Internet browser. Please DO NOT respond to this email. This email is a service of CMS and routed through an electronic mail server to communicate Medicare policy and operational changes and/or updates. Responses to this email are not routed to CMS personnel. Inquiries may be sent by going to (http://www.cms.gov/ContactCMS <http://www.cms.gov/ContactCMS> ). Thank you. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to a Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) provider listserv, go to (http://www.cms.gov/prospmedicarefeesvcpmtgen/downloads/Provider_Listser vs.pdf). If you would like to unsubscribe from a specific provider listserv, please go to (https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?INDEX <https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?INDEX> ) to unsubscribe or to leave the appropriate listserv.
