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Weekly Rounds: Patient Charting, MACRA Compliance, 2019 Tax Benefits, Online Tools, Patient Longitudinal Records

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This week, we have insights on the history of patient charting, how CMS aims to ease MACRA compliance,  2019 tax benefits for physicians, online tools physicians can take advantage of and why patient longitudinal records are integral for ACOs.

At Elation Health, we’re committed to strengthening the physician-patient relationship and providing intuitive tools for clinical first care. Part of this commitment includes keeping physicians and staff informed about the latest healthcare news, technology trends, and policy updates that impact their practices and patients.

We’re maintaining a set of healthcare-focused blogs where you can subscribe to get more information and news straight to your inbox. And each week, our Weekly Rounds will give you the highlights of the top content we’ve posted; here’s what you may have missed this week:

1. History of patient charting: It was only until the twentieth century that charting was used to treat patients after doctors realized they can better treat patients with accurate information gathered by these charts. In the late twentieth century, records turned electronic. EHRs have many benefits including reducing errors. Read on to learn more about the advantages of EHRs.

2.CMS seeks contractor to ease MACRA compliance for physicians: Many primary care physicians have to make the decision between the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or the Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APM). CMS is seeking contractors to help create a more stress-free environment for compliance to these programs. Read on to learn about CMS’ aims.

3.How to take advantage of 2019 tax benefits from medical expenses as an independent physician:  By 2019 if medical expenses exceed ten percent of a person’s income they can be written off as a tax break. Learn more about what medical expenses can be written off.

4.What are all the online tools DPC physicians need? There are certain criteria that physicians need to consider when choosing online tools for their direct care practices. EHRs are integral for physicians starting a direct care practice. Read more to find out about these criteria.

5. Why a patient longitudinal record is important for ACOs: ACOs are responsible for coordinated care by ensuring patients receive care on time with no medical errors. Longitudinal health records as the name suggests, track vitals and lab values of populations over time. Read on to find out more about the benefits of these type of records.