EMR - Electronic Medical Records are created and maintained within a charting/billing software residing at a physician's office or clinic, a hospital or pharmacy, etc. and is maintained by the individual Care Delivery Organization.

EHR - Electronic Health Records is a name given to the ideal that some or all portions of a person's Electronic Medical Records, (culled from all physicians, hospitals, dentists, pharmacists, etc that the person has seen) be stored electronically and is accessible to all who require access or have legitimate business in viewing the record. The individual patient as well as his/her healthcare providers have access to the EHR. The healthcare provider may export chartnotes, diagnoses, etc. to the EHR or view remarks and findings exported from other providers. The patient also has access to the EHR and may view and/or append data as well.

PQRI - Physician Quality Reporting Initiative is a physician quality reporting system designed to improve the care of patients through evidence-based measures that are based upon clinical guidelines and includes an incentive payment for eligible professionals who satisfactorily report data for on quality measures furnished to Medicare beneficiaries. The incentive payment for 2010 is 2%

PECOS - The Internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System is a way for providers to enroll and maintain their Medicare enrollment information online. Internet-based PECOS is available to physicians, non-physician practitioners, and provider and supplier organizations in all States and the District of Columbia. PECOS has a number of advantages over paper-based enrollment, and gives you quicker access to your enrollment information. Note that soon you must validate your PECOS record in order remain a valid ordering/referring entity.

Taxonomy Codes (HPTC) are a HIPAA standard code set and is a code representing your specialty. Taxonomy codes are national specialty codes established as an ASC X12 HIPPA standard used by providers to indicate their specialty at the claim level. Not all carriers require you to submit your taxonomy code.

NPI - The National Provider Identifier is a standardized provider identifier implemented with HIPAA and all health care providers are required to obtain and use an NPI as of May 23, 2007. The NPI replaces all existing provider identifiers used today (sort of - some carriers, especially Medicaid carriers, still require some form of legacy identifier in addition to or instead of the NPI) to identify health care providers as health care providers in HIPAA standard transactions. If you deal with Medicare patients in any way, you must have an NPI.

eRx - Electronic Prescribing System is a means of electronically communicating a prescription to a pharmacy. To qualify for incentive payments, your system must meet certain standards. Incentive payments for 2010 is 2% of the group practice's total estimated Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule allowed charges.

ARRA - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; Within the ARRA stimulus package, funds are intended to enhance the use of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) by service providers and hospitals. You can receive a portion of the ARRA stimulus funding through the "meaningful use" of EMR. Practices NOT using a qualified EMR by 2015 will see a penalty in the form of Medicare reimbursement reductions.