More EHRs to Qualify for Health Information Exchange Incentives Under New Requirements

LeadingAge NY has learned that the Department of Health (DOH), in collaboration with the New York eHealth Collaborative, is pursuing a more flexible approach to the requirements that providers' electronic health records (EHRs) must meet in order to qualify for funding under the Data Exchange Incentive Program (DEIP).

DEIP offers providers up to $13,000 per organization to connect and contribute data to their qualified entities (QEs), which are commonly known as regional health information organizations (RHIOs). To qualify for DEIP funds, an organization must:

Utilize an EHR that is able to send information electronically to the health information exchange entity (the RHIO or QE) in either CCD or C-CDA format;
Utilize an EHR that has obtained certification from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) or other assessments or audits demonstrating that specified privacy and security standards are satisfied;
Not be connected to a RHIO; and
Not have received funding from other sources for similar health information exchange activities.

This funding is intended to help defray the costs associated with complying with new health information exchange regulations requiring nursing homes, home care agencies, hospice programs, and other providers that use “certified electronic health record technology under the federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH)” to connect to RHIOs by March 9, 2018. DOH may waive the requirement to connect to a RHIO if the provider can demonstrate “economic hardship, technological limitations, or practical limitations that are not reasonably within [its] control, or other exceptional circumstances.” Waiver requests must identify the hardship, limitation, or circumstance for consideration and be submitted to DOH no later than March 9, 2018. The SHIN-NY waiver guidance can be found here, and information about the regulations is available here.

For more information about DEIP, contact the New York eHealth Collaborative here.

Contact: Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8383, ext. 124