Is anyone paying interface fee to clinician's office EMR + per report transmisstion fee?

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turtle1966

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Does anyone have experience with interfacing of AP database with clinician's office EMRs?

Any advice in mistakes to avoid?

To me it appears as a cyber mugging promoted by Obamacare.
(1) set up fee from your AP database +
(2) set up fee for Clinician's EMR +
(3) per report transmission charge +
(4) annual maintenance fee for AP database +
(5) annual maintenance fee for clinician's EMR.​

All cost to be born by pathologist. EMR company refuses to bill clinicians.

Know of which ones to avoid and ones to go to?

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This is a moving target - the laws as to what is and is not permitted seem to keep changing, so make sure you are on top of it. Violating anti-kickback laws is not a good thing.

And different states can have different rules also.

This is from January, one discussion: http://www.informationweek.com/heal...the-updated-ehr-donation-rules/d/d-id/1113363

Yaah, thanks for your input. I suspected this, however, could not find a reliable information source.

EMR companies are stating categorically in writing that "they will not charge the clinicians" and that "they will only bill labs".

If it is not legal to pay clinician's staff to put our reports into their charts (at least paying an unreasonable amount for the task) why would it be legal for us to pay EMR companies a very unreasonable amount (quote was around $1.40 per report or per biopsy +1000.00 annual maintenance fee per client + 8000.00 for time setup fee) to file our reports into the clinicians electronic charts?

To make matter worse, the quote was only on the clinician's end only, i.e., I presume would be another set of charges on AP side as well.

I wish CAP could take a leadership in dealing with this rampant cyber-mugging.
 
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This sounds like a kickback. I would refuse.
 
Commercial labs are already paying for interface and etc. I would like to hear from those that have first hand experience on this matter.

I have first-hand experience on this matter. If you have a serious question and are not just making conversation, I would recommend you consult an attorney with experience in this area. PM me if you'd like a referral.
 
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There are lots of EMR's that charge a connection fee+ a per order fee to the connecting laboratory...it charges this to ALL connecting laboratories. The OIG opinion is regarding "in-network" and "out-of-network" laboratories that are interfaced with the EMR (those that paid the per order fee versus those that didn't, which created a scenario where the clinician saved money by choosing in-network). I did complain to an EMR company that this fee structure actually is cost-prohibitive to smaller laboratories, and they agreed...this fee structure is more conducive to larger labs and they know it. A fee per order structure is nothing new..there are even LIS companies that work this way. As for who bears the EMR connection cost, it all depends on your negotiation tactics with the clinician/clinical practice. But in most relationships, the laboratory pays for all of the costs, though not always.

As to the OP's question..you have to do a cost benefit analysis for every EMR connection.
 
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Any other business would be able to pass the cost on to the customer or at least have that as an option. Physician reimbursements are fixed by CMS or by contracts with insurance companies and so it just gobbles up a little of the profit. Profit needed to pay employees and pathologists. Smaller labs will be forced to cease and desist at some point.
 
As for who bears the EMR connection cost, it all depends on your negotiation tactics with the clinician/clinical practice. But in most relationships, the laboratory pays for all of the costs, though not always.

I agree. And as I (somewhat jokingly) alluded to above, under most circumstances pathologists have very little leverage in these negotiations, because there are always labs out there willing to pay these fees, up to (and perhaps slightly past) the limit of the law.
 
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