Virtual Care Works Helps Healthcare Orgs Achieve Meaningful Use, Collect $27 Billion in EHR Incentive Payments
CENTENNIAL, CO—10/15/13 Health care organizations who achieve “meaningful use” levels of their Electronic Health Records (EHR) sooner than later stand to collect significant rewards, as much as $44,000 (through Medicare) or $63,750 (through Medicaid) per eligible health care professional.
The incentives are funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and up to $27 billion in EHR incentive payments are available.
Hospitals and practices must demonstrate “meaningful use” of their EHR, that is, that the technology is helping the organization achieve health and efficiency goals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services define four specific areas in which professionals must demonstrate advancement as: 1) Improving quality, safety, efficiency, 2) Engaging patients and family, 3) Improving care coordination and 4) Maintaining privacy and securing of patient health information.
Keith Clay, Chief Technology Officer at Virtual Care Works, a provider of secure, “medical-grade” communications solutions views the incentive program as extremely worthwhile for practices to participate in. “Eventually, everyone is going to be required to meet these standards. If practices get started today, they can take advantage of the rewards being offered to early adopters. To me, it makes sense to do it and get paid for it rather than putting it off and missing out on the financial gain.”
The Virtual Care Works platform is being sought out by healthcare organizations because it provides a suite of secure communications solutions (file transfer, videoconferencing, text, email) that help eligible providers comply with meaningful use criteria.
“One of the Stage 1 Objectives is to use information to engage patients and their families in their care. We’ve seen tremendous interest in our secure videoconferencing capabilities because it allows health care providers to meet with patients and families who are often located a significant distance from the provider’s location on a regular basis,” said Clay. “Providers immediately see the benefit of making a modest investment in our technology because it allows them to provide better care and demonstrate their commitment to their EHR Implementation.”
About Virtual Care Works
Virtual Care Works (VCW) provides secure, “medical-grade” communications solutions for health care providers. The VCW platform includes tools to converse with colleagues and patients via videoconference, exchange medical data and images via secure email or text and collaborate across a secure, HIPAA-compliant network. Healthcare organizations of all types and size benefit from the safety and security VCW offers, and use the VCW platform to avoid the significant fines ($10k per violation, up to $1.5m annually) and penalties that come with mishandling health information. VCW partners with other industry leaders such as Dell, Juniper Networks, Level 3 Communications and Vidyo to provide their medical-grade communications platform. VCW has members nationwide and is headquartered outside of Denver, CO.
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