Come See us at SECO – Booth #1115

Posted on 08. Dec, 2009 by Brad Rourke.

Practice Director along with the Williams Group will be exhibiting at the South East Congress of Optometry (SECO) at the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, GA. Come see us at Booth #1115.

Exhibit Hall Hours:
Thursday, February 11: 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Friday, Friday, February 12 : 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday, February 13: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Please don’t hesitate to contact Tammi Sufficool or Brad Rourke at 1-800-676-9076 ext 11 or 38 tsufficool@practicedirector.com  or brourke@practicedirector.com

To Register go to: http://www.seco2010.com/index.cfm

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Save with the Section 179 Tax Deduction

Posted on 10. Nov, 2009 by Brad Rourke.

You can elect to recover all or part of the cost of certain qualifying property, up to a limit, by deducting it in the year you place the property in service. This is the section 179 deduction. You can elect the section 179 deduction instead of recovering the cost by taking depreciation deductions.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us at info@practicedirector.com

What Property Qualifies?

To qualify for the section 179 deduction, your property must meet all the following requirements.

• It must be eligible property.
• It must be acquired for business use.
• It must have been acquired by purchase.

Eligible Property

To qualify for the section 179 deduction, your property must be one of the following types of depreciable property.

1. Tangible personal property.
2. Other tangible property (except buildings and their structural components) used as:
   1. An integral part of manufacturing, production, or extraction or of furnishing transportation, communications, electricity, gas, water, or sewage disposal services,
   2. A research facility used in connection with any of the activities in (a) above, or
   3. A facility used in connection with any of the activities in (a) for the bulk storage of fungible commodities.
3. Single purpose agricultural (livestock) or horticultural structures. See chapter 7 of Publication 225 for definitions and information regarding the use requirements that apply to these structures.
4. Storage facilities (except buildings and their structural components) used in connection with distributing petroleum or any primary product of petroleum.
5. Off-the-shelf computer software.

Off-the-shelf computer software.   Off-the-shelf computer software placed in service during the tax year is qualifying property for purposes of the section 179 deduction. This is computer software that is readily available for purchase by the general public, is subject to a nonexclusive license, and has not been substantially modified. It includes any program designed to cause a computer to perform a desired function. However, a database or similar item is not considered computer software unless it is in the public domain and is incidental to the operation of otherwise qualifying software.

Tangible personal property.   Tangible personal property is any tangible property that is not real property. It includes the following property.

• Machinery and equipment.
• Property contained in or attached to a building (other than structural components), such as refrigerators, grocery store counters, office equipment, printing presses, testing equipment, and signs.

How Much Can You Deduct?

Your section 179 deduction is generally the cost of the qualifying property. However, the total amount you can elect to deduct under section 179 is subject to a dollar limit and a business income limit. These limits apply to each taxpayer, not to each business. However, see Married Individuals under Dollar Limits, later. Also, see the special rules for applying the limits for partnerships and S corporations later. For a passenger automobile, the total section 179 deduction and depreciation deduction are limited. See Do the Passenger Automobile Limits Apply in chapter 5.

If you deduct only part of the cost of qualifying property as a section 179 deduction, you can generally depreciate the cost you do not deduct.

Dollar Limits

The total amount you can elect to deduct under section 179 for most property placed in service in 2008 generally cannot be more than $250,000. If you acquire and place in service more than one item of qualifying property during the year, you can allocate the section 179 deduction among the items in any way, as long as the total deduction is not more than $250,000. You do not have to claim the full $250,000.

The amount you can elect to deduct is not affected if you place qualifying property in service in a short tax year or if you place qualifying property in service for only a part of a 12-month tax year. After you apply the dollar limit to determine a tentative deduction, you must apply the business income limit (described later) to determine your actual section 179 deduction.

The above content was taken from: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p946/ch02.html#en_US_publink1000107413

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us at info@practicedirector.com

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EHR & the Stimulus Plan

Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by Brad Rourke.

Over the next several months through December 31, 2009, the Secretary of Health and Human Services through the Office of the National Coordinator (“ONC”) will be issuing initial guidance on certification and meaningful use of Electronic Health Records (“EHRs”). The Stimulus plan legislation is fast tracking initiatives and incentives for the adoption of EHRs to, among other objectives, reduce health care costs and improve coordination of care. Below is a summary of the primary processes and incentives for EHR adoption along with steps we at Practice Director are undertaking to ensure you are well prepared.

So the meaningful use, 2011 deadline, has our attention in a very, very important way. The second important issue that we have to deal with is certification. We can only compensate providers if they’re using certified records in a meaningful way.” Dr. David Blumenthal, Chair, National Coordinator for Health IT, Policy Committee Transcript, May 11, 2009.

Here’s what Practice Director is Doing

We are closely monitoring the source of the Electronic Health Record (“EHR”) certification standards, the decisions of the Health IT Policy & Standard Committees.

The Health Information Technology (“HIT”) Standards Committee is charged with making recommendations to the Office of National Coordinator (“ONC”) and Heath and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary in order to establish EHR standards and certification. The inaugural Policy & Standards Committee meetings were held May 11, May 15, June 16, and June 23, 2009.

• We have developed and continue to enhance Practice Director’s EHR with open (non proprietary) technologies to ensure flexibility to meet and exceed privacy, security and electronic exchange of health information standards as they are established.
• We are confident Practice Director is already ahead of the curve for certification purposes to help you meet your requirement of ‘meaningful use’ of EHR technology by 2011.

“You know I believe that when we declare the standards, we shouldn’t set the bar so high, that we will leave all of rural America behind and we will leave the small doctor’s office without the ability to reach the bar, but nor should we accept the status quo.” John Halamka – Harvard Medical School – Chief Information Officer, Vice Chair, HIT Standards Committee Transcript, May 15, 2009.

Electronic Health Record Certification & Meaningful Use

• The process for the adoption of Electronic Health Record (EHRs) certification standards and ‘meaningful use’ standards will be accomplished through the recommendation of two ONC committees, the HIT Policy Committee and the HIT Standards Committee
• The HITECH legislation requires that not later than December 31, 2009, the Secretary shall, adopt an initial set of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria.

“So under the expedited process, HHS is required to publish an interim final rule with our initial set of standards implementation, specifications and certification criteria by December 31st of this year which if anybody, for folks who are aware of regulatory process, that’s really fast. Fortunately it is an interim final rule” Jodi Daniel – HIT – Director of Policy and Research ONC, May 15, 2009

American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (“ARRA”) Incentives for Meaningful use of
Certified EHR’s

ARRA Context

• The Health Information Technology for Economic & Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act titles are a significant component of the ARRA. The titles affect Optometric Doctors who by definition are “covered professionals”.
• The Office of the National Coordinator (“ONC”) for Health Information Technology is tasked with administrating $19.2B of stimulus plan funding earmarked for the development and promotion of health information technology.
• The ONC is headed by the National Coordinator, Dr. David Blumenthal, who in turn reports to the Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, a member of President Obama’s cabinet.

The team at Practice Director is working diligently to stay abreast of the latest developments in this process to ensure your regulatory needs are met and exceeded through the use of Practice Director’s EHR. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Please contact Tammi Sufficool or Brad Rourke at 1-800-676-9076  or brouke@practicedirecotor.com  for information on our EHR Incentive Plan Savings and for more information regarding EHR Certification & Meaningful Use.

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