Radiologists are eligible for meaningful use government incentives, and Belgium-based Agfa HealthCare announced Monday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America that it would help its customers achieve meaningful use with its IMPAX RIS technology.
IMPAX is a sixth-generation integrated RIS/PACS workflow solution for data management and reporting that provides integration with electronic health records and other medical record solutions. Agfa HealthCare executives say they plan to submit an application for certification of Agfa's RIS as an EHR module that meets meaningful use criteria in 2011.
More than 90 percent of radiologists are eligible for meaningful use incentives at $44,000 per eligible provider. Demonstrating meaningful use through the deployment of certified technology is key to receiving incentives.
Starting in 2015, Medicare payment reductions will begin for non-compliance with meaningful use. Hospitals and eligible professionals will start applying in a few months, and will be supported by applications that perform "meaningful use" functions.
Stage 1 meaningful use will focus on the capture of electronic health information and its use in the tracking and communication of clinical conditions. Included in the first phase are 10 menu set objectives, 15 core set objectives and 44 clinical quality measures. While each set has specific objectives that may be excluded, eligible providers are required to use certified EHR technologies that are capable of measuring all 25 objectives.
A large part of Stage 1 meaningful use is centered on capturing clinical data such as can be found in IMPAX RIS, say Agfa executives. Agfa HealthCare is determining which core and menu set objectives can be met in the IMPAX RIS solution as it exists today.
Agfa HealthCare will also review other solutions such as IMPAX PACS, IMPAX Business Intelligence (work in progress) and IMPAX Exchange, a work-in-progress solution designed to eliminate CD or DVD to share images.
"Our review, combined with close consultation from industry leaders and customers, will guide the path for an application for certification of Agfa HealthCare solutions as EHR modules that meet meaningful use criteria," said Lenny J. Reznik, Agfa HealthCare's director of enterprise imaging and information. "Agfa HealthCare is committed to support efficient use of imaging informatics technology to foster knowledge sharing and improve the delivery of healthcare."
