light, as your lease may impact both your ability to effectively convert your practice to an EHR and the associated costs of the conversion. A professional analysis of your lease will bring these considerations to your attention and help you make smart decisions as you move forward.

Depending on the circumstances, much can be achieved through competitive renegotiation. For those who do not have a professional tenant representative in-house, engaging a tenant representative with a medical specialty to perform the analysis is a key first step. The engagement signals to the landlord that you’re serious about having every option and deal structure professionally evaluated. The process starts with having your lease professionally abstracted and your operating expenses analyzed. The output will establish a baseline of rights and costs and help you evaluate the anticipated expense and impact of moving forward with the conversion.

Mike Norris, LEED AP, is a vice president with The Ezra Company, the oldest and largest exclusively tenant representation firm in the Washington, DC region. Mr. Norris leads the healthcare practice at Ezra, which has offices in Bethesda, the District and Tysons Corner. He can be reached at mnorris@ezracompany.com.

Data Cabling tips for Non-techies

Getting the cabling right can make or break a move or renovation. Who cares how great the space is if you can't plug your computer in! Here are some tips to make the process a little easier.

• Obtain an accurate copy of the architectural drawings for your office. If you can get them electronically (Visio works well) then you'll have an easy time marking them up neatly.

• Usually the best place for a data outlet is next to the power outlet - most devices will need both!
• It is much less expensive to put data outlets in all at the same time, and preferably before wall board is up. If you think you might need an outlet in the future but aren't sure where, see if your cabling vendor will pull the cable(s) you need and leave them coiled in the ceiling, so that when the workstation is installed the cable will already be there for you. You need to make sure there is ample slack in the cable to insure that you will be able to install an outlet in your desired location. It is always better to have too much cable rather than too little. Note that some building inspectors may not let you do this. If that is the case, make an educated guess as to where the outlet should go, but leave the necessary amount of slack so that if the outlet needs to be relocated, you can do so without making a new cable run.
• Consider the proper height for each outlet.  Most often outlets should be placed at the same height as the electrical outlet (“standard height”), but there are occasions where outlets should be higher up on the wall to accommodate certain device placements (e.g. a printer sitting on a counter-top or computers monitors that need to be viewable while standing).  Mark the location of each outlet on your layout and make a special notation for any outlet not at standard height.
• If you need a recommendation for a cabling vendor, talk to your IT firm. They've seen good and bad and should be able to make a recommendation.

Click here for more information/recommendations for office cabling.

BEI is your Northern Virginia gateway to the Virginia Health IT Regional Extension Center

Current and prospective BEI clients now have a direct connection to Virginia Health IT (VHIT), the statewide Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (REC). Through BEI, qualifying primary care practices can access the REC services they need to achieve Meaningful Use (MU) of electronic health records (EHR), including:

• education on the various MU objectives and measures;
• consultation on how these objectives and measures apply to your practice;
• analysis to identify gaps between your practice's current EHR processes and compliance with the MU measures and objectives; and
• assistance closing those gaps and completing the attestation process.

VHIT is supported by a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to assist approximately 2,300 primary care providers in the Commonwealth of Virginia in achieving the first stage of MU. Under the REC program, physicians pay a nominal fee to VHIT for comprehensive EHR and MU consultation.

By demonstrating "Meaningful Use" of certified EHR technology to achieve health quality and efficiency goals, providers can qualify for Medicare or Medicaid financial incentives. The process for demonstrating MU is broken into three stages that are expected to be implemented between now and 2015. Stage 1 focuses on specific measurements that relate to physician practices, 15 of which are required (termed “Core Set”) while the remaining five can be selected from a list of 10 “Menu Set” measures.

The Medicare incentive program provides a maximum payment of $44,000 for achieving all three stages of MU. Medicare incentive payments are calculated as 75% of a professional’s submitted allowable charges, up to the cap of $24,000 per year. The $44,000 will be paid out between now and 2016 on a schedule that is determined by when a practice first achieves MU Stage 1. Practices that start later than 2012 will not be eligible for the full $44,000. Starting in 2015 there will be a reduction in Medicare reimbursement for any professional who has not achieved MU.

The Medicaid incentive program provides a maximum payment of $63,750 for achieving all three MU stages. To qualify for the Medicaid program, at least 30% of patient encounters must be covered under the Medicaid program. Similar to the Medicare program, the total funding under Medicaid ($63,750) will be paid out between now and 2021 on a schedule that is determined by when a practice first achieves MU Stage 1. However, unlike the Medicare program there is no penalty for not achieving MU.

As the leading Healthcare IT firm in Northern Virginia, BEI is uniquely qualified to offer access to REC MU services. Mike Jennings, President of BEI, noted, “BEI has been a leader in Healthcare IT for almost a decade, reaching back to 2000-2001 when we offered practice management software as an application service provider. We currently provide a broad range of IT support services to over 200 physicians and have relationships with all the major EHR vendors as well as professional medical societies in the Metro DC area.”

To learn how your practice can get the assistance it needs to achieve EHR "Meaningful Use," please contact Jonathan Krasner, BEI Healthcare IT Consultant, at 703-528-8300 x105 or jonathan.krasner@beinetworks.com.

About BEI
BEI is a privately owned business that has been providing IT support services to organizations of all sizes throughout the Washington DC metro area since 1987. Today BEI provides network design, installation, support, maintenance and procurement services to hundreds of clients in the region and has become the area’s premier provider of healthcare IT consulting and services. Healthcare IT is very different than the services and support that is typically provided to other businesses - people are very mobile wihtin the office, logging on and off PCs all the time, and using all types of peripherals (scanners, cameras, medical devices) for data input. BEI is focused on thoroughly understanding and supporting these requirements.

BEI is a Microsoft Partner with Gold Competencies in Server Platform and Volume Licensing. BEI is working with the Virginia Regional Extension Center (VHIT) to provide Meaningful Use consulting to practices in Northern Virginia. BEI is affiliated with the Montgomery County Medical Society, the Arlington County Medical Society, the Northern Virginia Practice Management Association, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the Microsoft Health Users Group. Subscribe to BEI’s Healthcare IT newsletter here.

Healthcare IT Updates
This Healthcare IT Update is part a series of whitepapers and seminars focused on the information technology aspects of healthcare. If you have received this email you are on our mailing list, if this has been forwarded to you please click here to subscribe. We welcome suggestions and input.

Jonathan Krasner | jonathan.krasner@beinetworks.com | 703-528-8300x105www.beihealthcare.com

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