BRETT BUCHANAN
MEDICAL ECONOMICS
Perfecting the portal Medicaid seeks to improve provider portal
BY AMY LYNN SORREL The web-based Medicaid pro- vider portal is undergoing a facelift that could mean expanded access to Med- icaid patients’ health his- tory so doctors can deliver more efficient, well-round- ed care. But the execution will be tricky, which is why physicians want to see the changes carefully tested to make sure the new system not only promotes patient care, but also minimizes hassles for physicians in the already administra- tively frustrating Medicaid program.
The portal, YourTexas
BenefitsCard.com, allows physicians to verify pa- tients’ eligibility, set ap- pointment reminders, and view limited information on patients’ health status, namely their immuniza- tion history and dates of their last medical and den- tal checkups. Starting in February, the Texas Health and Human Services Com- mission (HHSC) plans to pilot-test enhancements that will allow doctors to get a more comprehensive view of Medicaid patients’ health via an electronic health record (EHR). It will include addi- tional information on patients’ prescription history, lab tests, and visits and procedures. The Texas Medical Association participates in the Medicaid
workgroup overseeing the project. At press time, the associa- tion was helping recruit physician practices to participate in
a three-month pilot and working with Medicaid to develop a user-friendly portal before it goes live. The legislature ordered the expansion in 2009. But the initiative was slow-go- ing due in large part to le- gal and regulatory barriers that HHSC still must bal- ance, namely making sure sensitive patient informa- tion such as mental health history remains protected from inappropriate access, while at the same time giv- ing doctors easy access to the information they need to appropriately treat their patients.
Dallas pediatrician Joseph Schneider, MD, says an improved Medicaid portal has the potential to improve care — if done right. The TMA leader wants the changes carefully tested first to weed out potential adminis- trative burdens on physicians.
Until more comprehen- sive health information exchanges (HIE) are up and running statewide (see “Vital Connections,” October 2012 Texas Medi- cine, pages 43–48), the enhanced portal could prove an important stop- gap and “provide valuable information that has been difficult to get. So we ap- plaud Medicaid on their hard work in making this available,” said Dallas pe-
diatrician Joseph Schneider, MD. He spoke to Texas Medicine as chair of TMA’s Ad Hoc Committee on Health Information Technology. He also chairs Medicaid’s Electronic Health Infor- mation Exchange System Advisory Committee. At the same time, he said, the Medicaid portal “needs to be
looked at with the same caution that a physician would look at a portal offered by a private insurer in that it may be in-
January 2014 TEXAS MEDICINE 39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60