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Here’s how you get more profit from being an Eligible Professional

Eligible providers or more commonly known as eligible professionals (EPs) are medical practitioners who are fit to participate in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentive program. Simply by practicing Electronic Prescribing (eRx), EHR meaningful use, and Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) usage, EPs are entitled to receive financial benefits from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and will not undergo payment adjustment as penalty.

How do you become an EP?

Some prerequisites must be accomplished before one can be considered as an eligible professional. Also, only certain physicians, therapists, and doctors can be registered as EPs (view list of specific medical fields). Each applicant must register to verify his/her personal data and, answer the incentive program questionnaire, and provide his/her reason for participating. Hospitals, too, may participate in the incentive program, given that they are Eligible Hospitals (EHs) or Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs).

There are those that offer EP registration services, providing help in registration, CMS Audit assistance, and EHR consulting.

What is EHR?

It is a process of digitally collecting medical records from various medical professionals, organizations, and establishments through the use of Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT). Through such system, the overall accuracy, speed, and quality of treatments and diagnoses are increased.

EHR is a separate practice from other digital recording systems such as PQRS and eRx. In order to meaningfully use it, EPs must take note of their patient’s medical history and condition to be stored in a universal medical database managed by CMS.

What are the other benefits of having EHR?

Aside from the monetary incentive EPs receive, EHR also helps doctors examine and cure patients faster and more precisely. If one doctor, for instance, document his/her patient’s medical status and how he/she successfully cured the illness, the next doctor who will experience the same situation with his/her patient will simply pull out the data and redo what the previous doctor has successfully performed, saving more time and increasing medical procedure efficiency.