EHR Licensing  

This Complete EHR is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by an ONC-ATCB in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments. Vendor: Open Dental Software.  Date Certified: 8/18/2011. Product Version:11.0. Certification ID number: 08182011-1177-6. Clinical Quality Measures Certified: NQF0013, NQF0018, NQF0024, NQF0028, NQF0038, NQF0041, NQF0043, NQF0061, NQF0421. No additional software used.

http://www.ada.org/sections/professionalResources/pdfs/arra_hitech_ehr.pdf

Using a certified software will allow some providers to receive incentive payments of approximately $60,000 total over 5 years.  Most ordinary dental offices, however, will not qualify for government incentives.  The incentives mostly apply to pediatrics, community health centers, federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, etc.  To qualify, the provider must see at least 30% Medicaid patients and must meet other specific qualification criteria which can be found here: http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/

The fee for the Open Dental EHR is $60/provider/month in addition to the ordinary monthly support fees.  There may also be an up-front fee as described in the next paragraph.  The purpose of the fees is to help cover the significant initial and ongoing costs of certification as well as to support development of features that will allow providers to more easily meet meaningful use.  As the incentive program winds down in a few years, we plan to phase out these extra fees.

For existing customers only: During the first year of participation, the eligible provider must Adopt, Implement, or Upgrade (AIU) certified EHR software.  The main version of Open Dental without the EHR features enabled is not certified.  It is a requirement to use the full EHR version of Open Dental.  In order to enforce this requirement, no provider will be able to turn on the reporting features until they have paid an amount equivalent to the lesser of the following three time periods: 12 months, back to 10/1/2011, or back to the date Open Dental was first used.  This requirement may be met by paying the monthly fees until 12 months have passed, or by paying up front.  For example, if the provider purchases the EHR on 12/1/2011, the up-front payment would be $120 in addition to the regular monthly charge of $60 for December. As another example, if a provider purchases the EHR on 4/1/12, then the up-front payment would be $360 in addition to the regular monthly charge of $60 for April.  If the provider will not be getting an incentive payment for 2011, then they may not need the reporting until 2013, so that provider may choose to not make an up-front payment, but instead wait until April of 2013 for the reporting features that they will need to show Meaningful Use.

The certification only applies to very specific versions of Open Dental, because even if we make no changes to the EHR functionality, additional minor certification would be required for every single version. As an entirely hypothetical example, if we release versions 11.0, 11.1, 12.0, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 13.0, and 13.1 over the next two years, we may only certify versions 11.0, 12.0, and 12.4. The number of versions that we choose to certify will depend on the number of users who have purchased the EHR.  In 2013, we plan to go through the next major round of certification. 

Purchase
Download and fill out this form
EHR_PurchaseForm.doc

After submitting the form, it may take up to a full business day of back and forth communication before you will be able to proceed to full setup.

Setup
After purchase, follow these steps to get the EHR module functional.  Some steps can be done ahead of time if desired.

1. Go to Setup, Show Features.  Check the EHR box at the bottom.  Click OK twice and restart the program.

2. Go to Setup, EHR, Quarterly Keys.  Enter the quarterly key that we supplied to you.

3. Make sure that every provider (dentist) is attached to a user.  This is done in the Security window.  Double click on a user and then select a provider from the list to attach to that user.  Providers will be logging in to use the CPOE window as well as to run EHR reports.  Once every provider is attached to a user, exit the security window.  You can double check your entries in the Providers window, where more people will be able to see the links between users and providers.

4. In the Providers window, look in the Patients count column. Make sure that all patients are assigned to a provider that will be using the EHR.  If there are patients assigned to other providers, you will not be able to access the EHR module for those patients.  Reassign patients to other primary providers if necessary using the tool on the right side of the Providers window.

5. In the Provider Edit window for each provider, at the middle left, enter the provider EHR Keys that we supplied to you.

Submitting to CMS

To obtain your Certification ID number when filling out your incentive form, go to the CMS website http://onc-chpl.force.com/ehrcert.  Click the Ambulatory Practice button at the bottom.  Search for Open Dental.  Add to Cart.  Click "Get CMS EHR Certification ID".

EHR Consultants
There are EHR Consulting Companies that specialize in assisting customers with choosing EHR software, implementing it, and negotiating the incentive process.

Usage

See EHR Usage.