We are happy to announce our third customer to receive the full $18,000 payment, Dr. Arnold of Rockingham, NC.

Benefits of  RAPID EHR go far beyond government incentives

Dr. Arnold and staff report that they have also received positive feedback from personal injury regarding outstanding treatment notes, insurance firms regarding accuracy of claims, and patients regarding the ease of the kiosk. Dr. Arnold’s wife, Katherine, is the office manager has seen a number of benefits to their practice.

“Overall, RAPID has helped us to improve our professional image. Patients see how easily their records are updated and insurers and personal injury firms are amazed by how complete and detailed the documentation is.”

Efficient time management is key to a practice’s success. Katherine reports that this new software system saves at least 2.5 hours per patient record when preparing treatment note for attorneys or insurance companies. Dr. Arnold sees the many benefits as well and reveals that this new system provides a much better set of checks and balances between treatment and accurate billing. The transition to ACOM Health was nearly effortless.

Change Doesn’t Have to Be Hard

Katherine worked closely with ACOM Health to achieve and demonstrate meaningful use needed to collect on these payments.

“The training and coaching programs were comprehensive and easy to understand, and the personal support and resources were more than I could have asked for,” explains Katherine. “I just cannot say enough good things about ACOM Health – I have to be their number one fan.”

Meaningful Use is More Than a Requirement

Meaningful Use is truly much more than a box that gets checked off on the way to $44,000 in incentives, it is the goal. With the right tool, your practice will realize a range of very real benefits. When you reach that point, you’ve crossed the finish line and joined Dr. Arnold in achieving the real “Meaningful Use”.

Another Chiropractor Get’s $18,000 EHR Incentive Payment, Saves 2.5 Hours Per Patient Record is a post from: ACOM Health Blog

Great News, two of our customers have now received payment of $18,000 from the EHR incentive, the maximum attainable in 2011.

Congratulations to Dr. James Gudgel, and Dr. David Arnold who have led the way for the 150+ Chiropractors using ACOM Health’s RAPID EHR to qualify for EHR incentive payments in 2011.

Dr. Gudgel

With the receipt of their incentive payments they have shown that CHIROPRACTORS WILL GET PAID EHR INCENTIVE DOLLARS. The debate is over and it’s time to get educated about the EHR Incentive Program so you can make an informed decision about which Chiropractic EHR Software solution is best for your practice.

It’s important to note that adoption after 2012 will reduce the maximum available incentive by $5,000. Start learning what you need to know now, do your due diligence and see how the systems work before you buy, don’t buy just for the stimulus. A first-class EHR solution will improve numerous areas of your practice (see Dr. Pirner’s letter) and make you glad you chose well. A less effective solution may get you the incentive dollars, but do you really want to buy a solution for something as important as your documentation that you hate using every day?

Learn more about the EHR Incentive program.

Learn more about RAPID EHR.

Not One, but Two… Chiropractors using RAPID EHR have received $18,000 Payment is a post from: ACOM Health Blog

Though we often receive feedback from happy customers, it’s rare when that feedback is so complete as the letter from Dr. Pirner we received last week.

Dr. Pirner does a great job bringing to light  the benefits of implementing ACOM Health’s RAPID EHR in her practice, and even talks to her experience meeting the EHR stimulus criteria for proving meaningful use.

Thank you Dr. Pirner, and we hope reading about your experience is helpful to other DCs. It’s clear you’ve seen that the benefit implementing an EHR system goes far beyond the $44,000 in incentives provided by the ARRA stimulus.

Dear ACOM Health/ Rapid;

I would like to personally thank you for your product, it has saved me time, increased my collections, and reduced my staff costs!

I no longer worry, if every note will pass all the criteria required for Medicare, and insurance work, and I have 1 – 2 hours per day in time savings, vs. hand written notes. The new system of billing Rapid, has given me a 2 – 4% increase in collected revenue, with less error in posting, and reducing staff payroll by eliminating payroll time spent, retrieving, and filling files.

The staff and I have met the meaningful use criteria with little effort. Thanks to the educational videos, which you can use to instruct your staff in meaningful use, and system training, which has saved me time, and mental health as a doctor also.

My patient files, and reports, are printable at the push of a button. And I know they are of equal quality to any facility or health care professional in the country.

My Medicare patients have adapted readily, and with little complaints. Several exclaimed, “Why my (cardiologist) is on the new electronic records.” And I take that opportunity, to let them know their medical records are secure and safe even if a tornado hit the clinic, unlike the old paper notes. And I can communicate with any doctor with a push of a button.

Thank you for surpassing my expectations in your software product. I am usually slow to change, but this has been such a positive one. And the icing on the cake will be a check from the government for making it.

Sincerely;

Dr. Janie Pirner BA, DC, DABCI 

View More Customer Comments (Video, letters, case studies)

Dear ACOM Health, is a post from: ACOM Health Blog

Is there or isn’t there a 12 visit cap for Chiropractic Services? Do you know for sure?

Obviously from the title we’re calling this one out as a myth, and here’s the straight scoop right from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). If you treat Medicare patients you really have to have this information “exactly” right.

There are no caps/limits in Medicare for covered chiropractic care rendered by chiropractors who meet Medicare’s licensure and other requirements as specified in the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 15, Section 30.5. (This manual is available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/IOM/list.asp on the CMS website.) There may be review screens (numbers of visits at which the Medicare Carrier or A/B MAC may require a review of documentation), but caps/limits are not allowed.

 There you have it, 6 more myths to go!

Medicare Myth Busters- Myth #1 of 7: The 12 Visit Cap for Chiropractic is a post from: ACOM Health Blog

By: Jeff Brown, DC, CPC, CCPC

The liveliest debate among chiropractors regarding the EHR Incentive “Stimulus” Program revolves around drugs, naturally!  With rare exception, medication prescription does not fall within chiropractic’s scope of practice.  Why then, must a chiropractor use an EHR with all the drug bells and whistles or maintain an active medication list on his or her patients to be eligible for stimulus money? 

NOTE: This article has the most up-to-date information at the time of this writing; however, the government program is continually evolving, so please join me for the latest news update at my regularly scheduled educational webinars at www.acomhealth.com/EHRwebinar.

Let’s start at the top, the Final Rule

On July 28, 2010, after much debate and public comment, CMS released 42 CFR Parts 412, 413, 422 et al. Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Electronic Health Record Incentive Program; Final Rule.  Essentially, this 276 page document is the EHR Incentive Program’s Bible.  It says, an EP (Eligible Professional), that’s you, must utilize a single “complete” certified EHR, or multiple “modular” certified EHRs when combined cover 100% of the required Meaningful Use (MU) measures.  The government’s intent is to ensure the decision of whether or not any particular MU measure is used, or not used, remains in the hands of the provider, not the vendor.  As a result, software vendors who chose to attain “complete” certification status – so doctors would only need to purchase a single EHR – had to incorporate all drug related MU measures into their product, including those related to drugs, even though their end users may never ePrescribe or make medication recommendations.

Side note: A glimmer of sunshine was written into the Final Rule allowing EHR vendors to “turn off” the ePrescribe functionality as long as it could be activated at a provider’s request.  This language was extremely important from the chiropractic perspective because it meant chiropractors, other than those few who prescribe drugs, wouldn’t have to pay for software functionality which doesn’t apply to them and is actually illegal to use. 

What You Must do to Qualify for Incentive Payments

Now let’s look beyond vendor requirements and into what the provider must do to qualify for incentive payments.  If you read my previous article, Meaningful Use – In A Nutshell, you’ll know there are 25 MU measures.  Of these, seven are drug related, but only three really matter: Drug Interaction Checks (Core #2); Active Medication List (Core #5); and Medication Allergy List (Core #6).  Why?  Because there is “no exclusion” for these measures!  Therefore, all providers wishing to meet MU must complete all three to successfully attest. 

No need to panic.  Drug Interaction Checks must simply be “enabled,” or turned ON.  Drug Interactions run automatically in the background of your software and alert you when two drugs on a patient’s medication list have known severe incidence of adverse effects (huge opportunity to educate patients here).  Simple enough!  Next, Medication and Medication Allergy Lists are both straightforward activities which you are “not required to update…at every contact with the patient” and you may use your “clinical judgment to decide when additional probing is required.”  Super simple! 

CPOE for Medication Orders (Core #1), ePrescribing (Core #4), and Drug Formulary Checks (Menu #1) are three more MU measures related to drugs, however, all three carry an exclusion for providers who write fewer than 100 prescriptions.  Think of exclusions as exemptions, or immunity.  So, unless you write more than 100 prescriptions, there’s no need to worry about these three drug measures at all, you’re excluded!

Medication Reconciliation (Menu #7) is the last of the seven MU measures related to drugs, however, it too is of little concern because it is a Menu item; meaning, you don’t need to report on it (remember, you only need to report on 5 of 10 Menu measures).  Besides, other Menu items are recommended and less problematic.  Plus, Medication Reconciliation has an exclusion you may qualify for if you are not the recipient of any “transitions of care” – a patient was referred to you by another provider. 

Recap

There are seven MU measures related to drugs, but only three carry significance to DCs because they do not have exclusions.  They are:

1. Drug Interaction Checks

2. Active Medication List

3. Medication Allergy List

Consequently, all providers, regardless of scope, must report on these three measures if they are to successfully meet MU and get a stimulus check.  The good news is this: Even though your software must do it all, you don’t; and the abovementioned measures are reasonable and easy to complete when given the right EHR technology. 

NOTE: This article has the most up-to-date information at the time of this writing; however, the government program is continually evolving, so please join me for the latest news update at my regularly scheduled educational webinars at www.acomhealth.com/EHRwebinar.

EHR Incentive Program “Drug” Requirement – Why Chiropractors? is a post from: ACOM Health Blog

For everybody waiting to see if the payments were really going to go out and the program is for real, the wait is over and it’s for real. The following is from the ONC announcement:

• On May 19, 2011, the Medicare EHR Incentive Program issued the first round of payments totaling $75 million to providers who signed up in the first two weeks of the program. 

“Through the EHR incentive programs, we are helping eligible providers invest in their technology infrastructure,” said Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.  “But this isn’t just about technology. The goal is better and safer health care, and that means it’s about patients — about their health care and protection of their information.”

To see the full announcement visit the ONC site here. To learn more about our Certified Complete Chiropractic EHR solution go here.

First ARRA EHR Payments Issued This Week is a post from: ACOM Health Blog

ACOM Health, the company that developed the RAPID Chiropractic Software suite, will again be sponsoring a series of Impulse Adjusting System seminars held in selected cities this year. Four IAS seminars have already been held since the beginning of 2011 – in Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona – and there are 8 more seminars scheduled in the remaining months. The events will showcase advanced instruments and software systems that are designed to help doctors eliminate the need for manual chiropractic adjusting procedures so as to increase the the flow of patients as well as the efficiency and quality of each patient visit.

Today, over 6,000 chiropractic offices around the country and around the world make use of Impulse iQ Adjusting Instruments to optimize their practice. By using these systems, doctors are able to see more patients in the same amount of time, and patients benefit from more organized and efficient care.

In each two-day seminar, groups of 30 to 40 medical professionals will receive training in the implementation of Neuromechanical Innovation’s Impulse Adjusting Technique, which combines the impulse iQ adjusting instrument with computer-assisted auto-sense technology to increase the efficiency of chiropractic adjustments.

The upcoming Impulse Adjusting System seminars will be held in:

• Costa Mesa, CA (03/12 – 03/13)
• Columbus, OH (03/19 – 03/20)
• Boston, MA (03/26 – 03/27)
• Seattle, WA (04/02 – 04/03)
• Vienna, VA (04/30 – 05/01)
• San Francisco, CA (05/14 – 05/15)
• Chicago, IL (05/21 – 05/22)
• Denver, CO (06/11 – 06/12)

ACOM Health Division

ACOM Health specializes in serving chiropractors with software and services that improve practice efficiency and increase revenue while cutting costs. ACOM’s RAPID Chiropractic Software suite consists of Clinical Documentation and Notes, Home Exercises, and Chiropractic Practice Management programs for billing, scheduling, patient management and detailed reporting. ACOM Health Division has over 700 customer installations nationwide and is partnered with multiple state health associations. Their Chiropractic Services team is dedicated to helping practices maximize their billings and collections systems while ethically streamlining their practice operations.

According Dr. Christopher J. Colloca, president and founder of Neuromechanical Innovations, ACOM’s software suites are ideal for automating the documentation of data acquired from diagnoses and treatments of patients using the Impulse iQ Technique. ACOM’s automated documenting systems are certified under the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of 2009, which set up quality standards and reimbursements to encourage doctors to switch from paper to electronic health record systems (EHR).

ACOM’s RAPID electronic health records software has been chosen by many chiropractic practices for a variety of reasons, among them the fact that doctors who purchase ACOM Health’s software automatically qualify for a full reimbursement of their purchase, courtesy of the government’s stimulus package. Other factors that have added to the growing prestige of the RAPID Chiropractic Software Suite include:

• ACOM’s chiropractic software caters specifically to the unique aspects of Impulse treatment reports.
• The RAPID software systems automate SOAP notes and reports, cutting down on the amount of time doctors and other medical professionals spend doing paperwork and other clerical jobs, such as dictating and editing reports. This allows doctors to focus on patient care and other professional duties.
• RAPID software was designed to adhere strictly to Medicare standards, ensuring precision and consistency.
• The RAPID software suite has a user-friendly interface that’s easy to learn and customize to a practice’s specific needs.

RAPID Documentation software is designed to give chiropractors the advantage of being able to focus on their patients’ care, instead of having to spend hours scrutinizing paperwork. With the data of every patient visit carefully and precisely documented, doctors can have an easier time establishing medical necessity and maintaining efficient, well organized records systems. By automating medical practices, the RAPID Software Suite helps doctors increase collections and reduce delays, denials and audits. Features like patient self-registration and streamlined final report forms allow for greater patient flow and increased revenue. The RAPID software suite includes an advanced, user-friendly interface that guides medical professionals step by step through the set up process.

Upcoming Events in Your City: Impulse Adjusting System Seminar is a post from: ACOM Health Blog