What does “meaningful use” mean to nurses? The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released final rules July 13 outlining the criteria hospitals and eligible providers must meet to be considered meaningful users of health information technology in...

The National Association for Rural Health Clinics (NARHC) is hosting a Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance call at 2:00pm (EASTERN) on Thursday, August 12th. RHC specific information will be presented on the standards for Eligible Professionals (EP) working in RHCs and the meaningful use criteria for all Eligible Professionals...

Congratulations to all of the Colorado recipients of the Health & Human Services Health Care Workforce Training Grants! Colorado will receive a total of $1.4 million!These funds will be used to expand training in nursing workforce. Here is a breakdown of who & what was funded in our state:...

See what happens when I go on vacation…..the Senate finally voted on extending the FMAP! With a vote of 61-39, the Senate approved a slightly scaled back version of the FMAP extension. Beginning in January 2011, the FMAP extension will provide a 3.2%first quarter increase, which is reduced to...

The Senate Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies marked up its draft appropriations bill and released a final version July 29th. The bill provides $169.9 billion in discretionary funds for a variety of programs, some of which would be very helpful for rural healthcare consumers &...

The Senate is expected to vote on the FMAP extension no later than 5p tomorrow. I will be out of town and not able to provide an update until Monday. Fingers crossed that the extension is approved!

Looks like the FMAP vote that was allegedly set to take place last night (Monday 8.2) was postponed. The Senate might vote on it tonight. Perhaps tomorrow. No one really knows. Isn’t our political system fun!?!?! On another note, the House is on recess until Tuesday, September 14th. This...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invites you to join a series of national provider calls addressing the specifics of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs for hospitals and individual practitioners. Learn the specifics on what you need to participate in the these incentive programs –...

Tip Sheets for Eligible Professionals and Hospitals are now available on the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms. Select the Medicare Eligible Professional or Hospital tab on the left, and then scroll to “Downloads.” Available documents include: • Medicare EHR Incentive Payments for Eligible Professionals This tip sheet describes...