National Health IT Week: Sept 10-14, 2012

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Mike Squires

National Health IT Week

September 10-14, 2012 Excerpted from http://www.healthit.gov/healthitweek/ on Sept 8, 2012

The Seventh Annual National Health IT Week is being held September 10-14, 2012. Health IT Week brings together the entire health IT community under one umbrella to raise awareness about the power of health IT to improve the quality, safety, and cost effectiveness of health care.

The events of the week provide a key opportunity for key stakeholders-vendors, provider organizations, payers, pharmaceutical/biotech companies, government agencies, industry and professional associations, research foundations, and consumer groups- to work together to highlight critical issues and advance a shared vision of improving the nation's health and health care through health IT. During Health IT Week, ONC has developed a specific theme upon which to build each day's events. We hope you are able to join us for as many as your schedule allows.

Health IT Events and Initiatives

Monday: Consumer eHealth/Blue Button
2012 Consumer Health IT Summit: Expanding Access to Health Information
Monday, September 10
10:00am – 1:00pm ET (NOTE: Breakout sessions will occur from 1:00 – 3:30PM for attendees who are participating in person)
Hubert H. Humphrey Building
200 Independence Avenue S.W.
Washington, D.C., 20201

The 2012 Consumer Health IT Summit will bring together federal leaders including: Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and inspiring leaders from the private and non-profit sectors. ONC's Pledge Program has grown more than ten-fold since last year-the 2012 Consumer Health IT Summit is a chance to learn from and share your experiences with others who are leading the charge to empower consumers to be better partners in their health.

View the latest agenda [PDF - 104 KB]

Event will be Webcast Live at www.hhs.gov/live.
Health IT Blog Carnival

The Health IT Blog Carnival is an open call for healthcare and IT industry bloggers who would like to comment on the impact health IT will have in 2013.
Tuesday: Improving Patient Care Through Meaningful Use
ONC – HRSA Webinar Demo of the New ONC Privacy and Security Training Game and Program Update for Safety Net Providers|
Tuesday, Septeber 11
10:00am – 11:00am ET

This webinar will feature a new training tool from the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) Privacy and Security Group. ONC will demo an interactive training game for providers and staff on the "do's and don'ts" of privacy and security issues regarding health IT. This training tool can be used to help fulfill a safety net provider's HIPAA privacy training requirements. In addition, ONC will provide a privacy and security update on recent program changes and how they affect safety net providers.

Presenters:
- Laura Rosas, JD, MPH, Policy Analyst, ONC
- William Phelps Policy Analyst, ONC
Register for the webinar
PCPCC Advancing Primary Care through Health IT
Tuesday, September 11
2:00pm – 3:30pm ET

The Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) is holding a webinar featuring speakers from CMS, ONC, and NCQA to discuss various aspects of health information technology and the patient-centered medical home. Please join us for a free and informative webinar from 2:00-3:30pm ET on Tuesday, September 11, entitled "Advancing Primary Care through Health Information Technology".

Presenters:
- Richard Baron, MD, MACP, Group Director, Seamless Care Models, CMS Innovation Center
- Jacob Reider, MD, Acting Chief Medical Officer, ONC
- Mat Kendall, Director of Office Provider Adoption Support, ONC
- Johann Chanin, Director in Product Development, NCQA
Register for the webinar
Wednesday: Privacy and Security
NeHC Privacy and Security Programs|
Wednesday, September 12
11:00am – 12:00pm ET
As part of Health IT Week , National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) will offer a series of programs with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to highlight their various initiatives, including those related to privacy and security. Joy Pritts, Chief Privacy Officer at ONC will kick off the program and Laura Rosas, Privacy and Security Professional at ONC and Will Phelps, HIT Cyber Security Program Officer with HHS, will provide an interactive demonstration of Cybersecure: Your Medical Practice, a new avatar-based game meant to enhance organizations' understanding of privacy and security.

Faculty:
- Joy Pritts, Chief Privacy Officer, ONC
- Laura E. Rosas, JD, MPH, Privacy and Security Professional, Office of the Chief Privacy Officer, ONC
- Will Phelps, HIT Cyber Security Program Officer, US Department of Health and Human Services
URL: http://www.nationalehealth.org/HITWeek-Security

Fee: No charge
Thursday: Standards, Interoperability, and Health Information Exchange
NeHC Standards & Interoperability Framework
Thursday, September 13
1:00p – 2:30pm ET
Continuing with the HIT Week Program Series, National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) will offer a program with Deputy National Coordinator David Muntz and Director of the Office of Science and Technology, Dr. Doug Fridsma to lead a discussion on the progress of the Standards and Interoperability Framework. Dr. Holly Miller from MedAllies, Inc. and David Tao from Siemens Healthcare will discuss the S&I Framework from the perspective of a provider and a vendor respectively.

Faculty:
- David Muntz, Principal Deputy National Coordinator, ONC
- Dr. Doug Fridsma, Director, Office of Standards and Interoperability, ONC
- Dr. Holly Miller, Chief Medical Officer, MedAllies, Inc.
- David Tao, Senior Key Expert and Interoperability Champion, Siemens Healthcare
URL: http://www.nationalehealth.org/HITWeek-Standards

Fee: No charge
Friday: Quality and Health IT
eHC Quality in Health IT Webinar
Friday, September 14
11:00am – 12:00pm ET
The final webinar of the HIT Week Program Series , National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) will provide a program featuring Dr. Farzad Mostashari, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, and Dr. Patrick Conway to discuss how ONC, AHRQ, and CMS are collaborating to leverage health IT to improve healthcare quality. Speakers will provide a vision for the quality measurement enterprise of the future as well as the necessary steps to transition to health IT-enabled measurement, reporting and feedback that drives improvement in care and outcomes. They will also identify challenges moving forward in realizing this vision, including the need for continued public-private collaboration to continuously evolve and improve the enterprise.

Faculty:
- Dr. Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, ONC
- Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
- Dr. Patrick Conway, Chief Medical Officer, Director, Office of Clinical Quality Standards and Quality , Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
URL: http://www.nationalehealth.org/HITWeek-Quality

Fee: No charge
HRSA Leadership Tips During a Health IT Implementation Webinar

Friday, September 14
2:00pm – 3:30pm ET
This webinar focuses on the importance of leadership in successfully steering an organization through a health IT implementation. It features established leaders who have conducted more than 70 health IT implementations in health centers, rural health clinics, and critical access hospitals. The presenters will also focus on how leadership is important in helping staff, clinicians, patients, a safety net providers' board, and partners adjust to and overcome the barriers that typically accompany a health IT implementation and impede success. Lastly, the presenters will provide leadership examples of unique health IT implementation situations such as meeting meaningful use objectives, changing vendors, and implementing health IT in multiple provider sites. Presenters include:
- Terry Hill, MPA, Executive Director and Joe Wivoda, Chief Information Officer
  National Rural Health Resource Center
- Greg Wolverton, Chief Information Officer
  White River Rural Health Center, Arkansas
- Doug Smith, Executive Director
  Greene County Healthcare, North Carolina
Register for the webinar
HIMSS "Health IT is…" Twitter Chat

Friday, September 14

On Friday, September 14, @HIMSS and @HealthStandards are moderating at #HITsm Twitter chat on National Health IT Week at 12 noon ET. More details including chat questions will be shared on the HL7 Standards blog closer to the day.
Celebrate in Your Hometown

Find out 10 ways to get involved , whether externally in your community and/or by communicating the value of health IT within your own organization.

View a full list of National Health IT activities taking places across the U.S. , or to visit the National Health IT Week website to learn more.

It's also easy for individuals and organizations across the country to participate. Potential partners – including corporate, non-profit and academic institutions – should visit the National Health IT Week website Partners page to learn more about generating awareness of health IT in their communities.

Meaningful Use Stage 2: A Giant Leap in Data Exchange

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Mike Squires

Health IT Buzz Blog: Meaningful Use Stage 2: A Giant Leap in Data Exchange
Originally published on ONC's Health IT Buzz Blog on August 28, 2012 and republished on e-HealthcareMarketing.com
By Dr. Farzad Mostashari / National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

The CMS and ONC Meaningful Use Stage 2 rules we just issued represent a massive step forward in advancing the secure exchange of information between providers and patients to support better care across the nation. Getting the right information to the right person at the right time can be a matter of life and death. Unfortunately, anyone who has been a patient or cared for a patient understands that it’s simply not happening today.

Back in 2009 when we were drafting the initial set of meaningful use criteria and required standards, our hopes and expectations were subdued by the reality we faced. Different vendor products used different proprietary or local codes, there were strong disagreements about how laboratory results or patient summaries should be packaged, and there was simply no consensus on how the Internet could be used to securely send patient information. Over the past two years, thanks to the initial steps we took in Stage 1 and the relentless work of almost 1,000 volunteers in ONC’s standards and implementation activities, we can now leap towards interoperability and exchange in Stage 2.

Meaningful Use Stage 2 and Health Information Exchange Highlights

Common Standards and Implementation Specifications for Electronic Exchange of Information: The Meaningful Use Stage 2 final rules define a common dataset for all summary of care records, including an impressive array of structured and coded data to be formatted uniformly and sent securely during transitions of care, upon discharge, and to be shared with the patient themselves. These include:
- Patient name and demographic information including preferred language (ISO 639-2 alpha-3), sex, race/ethnicity (OMB Ethnicity) and date of birth
- Vital signs including height, weight, blood pressure, and smoking status (SNOMED CT)
- Encounter diagnosis (SNOMED CT or ICD-10-CM)
- Procedures (SNOMED CT)
- Medications (RxNorm) and medication allergies (RxNorm)
- Laboratory test results (LOINC)
- Immunizations (CVX)
- Functional status including activities of daily living, cognitive and disability status
- Care plan field including goals and instructions
- Care team including primary care provider of record
- Reason for referral and referring provider’s name and office contact information (for providers)
- Discharge instructions (for hospitals)

In addition, there are a host of detailed standards and implementation specifications for a number of other transactions including quality reporting, laboratory results, electronic prescribing, immunizations, cancer registries, and syndromic surveillance (see below for a detailed list).

What does this mean? It means that we are able to break down barriers to the electronic exchange of information and decrease the cost and complexity of building interfaces between different systems while ensuring providers with certified electronic health record (EHR) technology have the tools in place to share, understand, and incorporate critical patient information. It also means that providers can improve workflow and dig deeper into the data. Certified EHR technology must be able to support identity reconciliation—matching the right record to the right person—and will give doctors the tools to reconcile a new document with the information already on file, for instance by incorporating medications and problems identified by another provider into a patient’s record, thus creating a single source of truth. The Stage 2 regulations also require developers to build systems that allow each segment of the patient summary, whether it is procedures or lab results, to be retrievable by the end user, getting us closer to the goal of being able to efficiently search and assemble individual data elements through metadata tags.

Rigorous Testing of Exchange for Stage 2: To ensure certified EHR technology supports providers in exchanging health information with greater frequency and across vendor boundaries, ONC will work with NIST to develop an interoperability testing platform for Stage 2 that will rigorously test that EHR technology can send, receive, and incorporate standardized data using the specified standards and protocols. Any EHR technology that meets the demanding testing requirements should be able to send and receive standardized information with other certified EHRs. We will need your help over the coming months to develop and vet the Stage 2 certification test scripts. Check back to www.healthit.gov soon for additional information on this initiative.

Actual Electronic Exchange of Clinical Information: By 2014, providers will have to demonstrate, and vendors will have to support, the actual exchange of structured care summaries with other providers—including across vendor boundaries—and with patients. Whether through “push” or “query” methods, the requirements in the rule assure exchange is occurring while avoiding undue burden on providers and vendors to track and measure this exchange. As we stated unequivocally in the final rule (a dramatic reading of which is available ), we will pay close attention to whether the requirements in the rule are sufficient to make vendor-to-vendor exchange attainable for providers. If there is not sufficient progress or we continue to see barriers that create data silos or “walled gardens ,” we will revisit our meaningful use approach and consider other options to achieve our policy intent.

While any rule-making includes some compromises between the aspirational goals we want to achieve and the reality of where the market is, we continue to make progress toward the ultimate goal of nationwide health information exchanges. By setting ambitious, but achievable targets for providers and vendors alike, I’m confident that we’ll see the same hockey stick progress we’ve seen for adoption of EHRs for information exchange. The push on standards-based information exchange and other Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements will allow the country to make meaningful use of the meaningful use roadmap for more coordinated, safer, and better care.

For More Information

CMS Issues New Version of FAQs for EHR Incentive Payment Program

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Mike Squires

CMS Issued new version of FAQs in an Excel workbook in August 23, 2012.

CMS EHR FAQs 2012 (ZIP) Excerpted from Downloads section on FAQs page on August 26, 2012. Workbook within zip file.
As of 8/29/2012, THE ABOVE DOWNLOADABLE FILES HAVE BEEN WITHDRAWN AND ARE EXPECTED TO BE REPLACED SOON.

FAQs By Topic: Electronic Health Records Incentive Programs

[EHR Incentive Programs] How and when will incentive payments for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EH…: For eligible professionals (EPs), incentive payments for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program will be made approximately f… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] When eligible professionals work at more than one clinical site of practice, are t…: CMS considers these two separate, but related issues.Meaningful use: Any eligible professional demonstrating mean… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What do the numerators and denominators mean in measures that are required to demo…: There are 15 measures for EPs and 14 measures for eligible hospitals that require the collection of data to calculate a … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What are the EHR reporting periods for eligible hospitals participating in both th…: There are two factors that determine the EHR reporting period for hospitals eligible for both the Medicare and Medica… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Do specialty providers have to meet all of the meaningful use objectives for …: For eligible professionals (EPs) who participate in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, there are a tot… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If an eligible professional (EP) in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program wants to le…: EPs may use a clinic or group practice's patient volume as a proxy for their own under three conditions:(1) T… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Who can enter medication orders in order to meet the measure for the computerized …: Any licensed healthcare professional can enter orders into the medical record for purposes of including the order in the… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If an eligible professional (EP) sees a patient in a setting that does not have ce…: Yes for Stage 1, an EP may include patients seen in locations without certified EHR technology in the numerators and … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] In order to receive payments under the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Rec…: In order to receive Medicare EHR incentive payments, EPs, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals must have… (more)
If an eligible professional (EP) is unable to meet the measure of a Meaningful Use objective because it is …: Some Meaningful Use objectives provide exclusions and others do not. Exclusions are available only when our regulations … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, i…: In most cases, an eligible professional or eligible hospital is not limited to demonstrating meaningful use to the ex… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the meaningful use objective to "record and chart changes in vital signs" for …: An exclusion for this objective is provided only for EPs who either see no patients 2 years or older, or who believe … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, d…: For the hospital meaningful use objectives, the denominator is all unique patients admitted to an inpatient (POS 21) or … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For meaningful use objectives of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Recor…: No, if multiple EPs are using the same certified EHR technology in different physical locations/settings (e.g., differen… (more)
For eligible professionals (EPs) who see patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings (e.g., hospital…: In this case, EPs should base both the numerators and denominators for meaningful use objectives on the number of unique… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] My practice does not typically collect information on any of the core, alternate c…: EPs are not excluded from reporting clinical quality measures, but zero is an acceptable value for the CQM denominato… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the meaningful use objective of "capability to exchange key clinical informati…: For the purposes of the "capability to exchange key clinical information" measure, exchange is defined as electronic tra… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What information must an eligible professional provide in order to meet the measur…: In our final rule, we defined "clinical summary" as: an after-visit summary that provides a patient with relevant and ac… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can an eligible professional (EP) implement an electronic health record (EHR) syst…: For a Medicare EP's first payment year, the EHR reporting period is a continuous 90-day period within a calendar year… (more)
If a provider feeds data from certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to a data warehouse, can …: To be a meaningful EHR user a provider must do three things:Have complete certified EHR technology for all meani… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] A number of measures for Meaningful Use objectives for eligible hospitals and crit…: There are two methods for calculating ED admissions for the denominators for measures associated with Stage 1 of Mean… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Is my practice eligible to receive incentive payments through the Medicare and Med…: Incentive payments are not made to practices but to individual eligible professionals (EPs). For more information abo… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can two separate practices with two different Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) pu…: Yes. Incentive payments are made based on the demonstration of meaningful use by individual eligible professionals (E… (more)
[EHR Incentive Program] I am an eligible professional (EP) who has successfully attested for the Medicare E…: For EPs, incentive payments for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program will be made approximately four to eight weeks aft… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can eligible professionals (EPs) receive electronic health record (EHR) incentive …: Not for the same year. If an EP meets the requirements of both programs, they must choose to receive an EHR incentive pa… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What information must an eligible professional provide in order to meet the measur…: In our final rule, we defined "clinical summary" as: an after-visit summary that provides a patient with relevant and ac… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, h…: To report clinical quality measures, eligible hospitals and CAHs that have multiple systems should generate a report … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If a provider purchases a certified Complete Electronic Health Record (EHR) or has…: No, the provider would not be able to successfully demonstrate meaningful use. To successfully demonstrate meaningful… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the meaningful use objective of "record demographics" for the Medicare and Med…: Eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must record in the patient's EHR the clinical impression and … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, how are the reporting periods for Medicaid…: Regardless of when the previous incentive payment was made, the following reporting periods apply for the Medicaid EH… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Is a hospital participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs re…: The technical specifications issued by CMS for the clinical quality measures under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Ince… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What lab tests should be included in the denominator of the measure for the "incor…: For the "incorporate clinical lab-test results" objective, the denominator consists of the number of lab tests ordere… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, how will non-standard (or ir…: This question was addressed in our Federal Register preamble (75 FR 44452) and in our rules requiring the use of a 12… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] When calculating Medicaid patient volume or needy patient volume for the Medicaid …: There are multiple definitions of encounter in terms of how it applies to the various requirements for patient volume… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If an eligible professional (EP) does not accept assignment for Medicare Part B, i…: An EP that is not a Medicare participating physician or supplier, but still submits claims to Medicare for Part B phy… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Will the resident physicians be eligible to participate in the Medicare and Medica…: For the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, all eligible professionals must meet their state's scope of practice rules to pa… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Do providers have to contribute a minimum dollar amount toward their certified EHR…: There is no general requirement under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs for providers to contribute a … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can an eligible hospital implement an electronic health record (EHR) system a…: For an eligible hospital's first payment year, the EHR reporting period is a continuous 90-day period within a Federa… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] To what attestation statements must an eligible professional (EP), eligible hospit…: Currently, the attestation process requires EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs to indicate that they agree with the fo… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the meaningful use objective of "capability to exchange key clinical informati…: No, the use of physical media such as a CD-ROM, a USB or hard drive, or other formats to exchange key clinical inform… (more)
Are nursery days and nursery discharges (for newborns) included as acute-inpatient services in the calculat…: No, nursery days and discharges are not included in inpatient bed-day or discharge counts in calculating hospital incent… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are optometrists considered eligible professionals for the Medicaid EHR Incen…: Under Medicare, a doctor of optometry is considered a physician (and therefore an EP) with respect to all services the o… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, h…: EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs should look at the measure of each meaningful use objective to determine the approp… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Do providers register only once for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Re…: Providers are only required to register once for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. However, they must… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are professional services rendered by physicians or other eligible professional th…: No. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act created an EHR incentive payment … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] To meet the Stage 1 public health meaningful use objectives (submitting infor…: CMS recognizes that there are a variety of methods in which the exchange of public health information could take place. … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Must providers have their electronic health record (EHR) technology certified prio…: No. An EP or hospital may begin the EHR reporting period for demonstrating Meaningful Use before their EHR technology… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Will academic physicians employed by an academic medical center billing under the …: Physicians who furnish substantially all, defined as 90% or more, of their covered professional services in either an… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Do States need to verify the "installation" or "a signed contract" for adopt, impl…: States should make clear to providers when they attest for AIU what documentation they must maintain, and for how lon… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] After successfully demonstrating meaningful use for the Medicare and Medicaid Elec…: Eligible professionals (EPs) participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program will receive a single lump sum payme… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, h…: The CPOE measure is structured to minimize reporting burden. However, if all of the following conditions a… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are mental health practitioners eligible to participate in the Medicare and Medica…: Mental health providers would only be eligible for incentive payments if they meet the criteria of a Medicare or Medi… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If an eligible hospital or critical access hospital (CAH) has a rehabilitation uni…: No. CMS specified in the final rule that the statutory definition of "hospital" used in the EHR Incentive Program doe… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Is the physician the only person who can enter information in the electronic healt…: No. The Final Rule for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs, specifies that in order to meet the meaningful … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For large practices, will there be a method to register all of the Eligible Profes…: In April 2011, CMS implemented functionality that allows an EP to designate a third party to register and attest on h… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, when a patient is only seen …: The EP can include or not include those patients in their denominator at their discretion as long as the decision app… (more)
How should eligible professionals (EPs) select menu objectives for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Hea…: EPs are required to report on a total of 5 meaningful use objectives from the menu set. When selecting five objectives f… (more)
For the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, how does an eligible professional (EP) determine whet…: All cases where the EP and the patient have an actual physical encounter with the patient in which they render any servi… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] How should nursery day patients be counted in the denominators of meaningful use m…: Nursery days are excluded from the calculation of hospital incentives because they are not considered inpatient-bed-d… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What are the requirements for dentists participating in the Medicaid EHR Incentive…: Dentists must meet the same eligibility requirements as other eligible professionals (EP) in order to qualify for pay… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Does the person who completes the registration for the Medicare and Medicaid Elect…: No. For Medicare providers, CMS has determined that if there are multiple users approved to work on behalf of an elig… (more)
What is the reporting period for eligible hospitals participating in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic H…: For an eligible hospital or critical access hospital's first payment year, the EHR reporting period is a continuous 9… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If my certified EHR technology only includes the capability to submit information …: If the immunization registry does not accept information in the standard to which your EHR technology has been certif… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If the denominators for all three of the core clinical quality measures are zero, …: If the denominator value for all three of the core clinical quality measures is zero, an EP must report a zero denominat… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] How will I attest for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Inc…: Medicare eligible professionals and eligible hospitals will have to demonstrate meaningful use through CMS' web-based… (more)
What information must an eligible professional (EP), eligible hospital or critical access hospital (CAH) pr…: In our final rule, we limited the information that must be provided electronically to that information that exists elect… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] In order to meet the participation threshold of 50 percent of patient encounters i…: To be a meaningful EHR user, an EP must have 50 percent or more of their patient encounters during the EHR reporting … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the "Incorporate clinical lab-test results" menu objective of the Medicare and…: For the "Incorporate clinical lab-test results" menu objective, a provider's certified EHR technology might return a … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If data is captured using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology, can…: By definition, certified EHR technology must include the capability to electronically record the numerator and denomi… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] I am an eligible professional (EP) for whom none of the core, alternate core, or a…: In the event that none of the 44 clinical quality measures applies to an EP's patient population, the EP is still req… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] To meet the meaningful use objective “capability to exchange key clinical informat…: In order to meet this objective, clinical information must be sent between different legal entities with distinct certif… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What cost report data elements are used in the EHR incentive payment calculation f…: The current Medicare cost report, Form CMS 2552-96, will be used until the implementation of the new Medicare cost re… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For meaningful use objectives of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Recor…: Yes, it is acceptable to conduct a test of information exchange from a test environment or test domain of certified EHR … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can eligible professionals (EPs) use clinical quality measures from the alternate …: No, if EPs report data on all three clinical quality measures from the core set, they would not report on any from th… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are there any special incentives for rural providers in the Medicare and Medicare …: Under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, the maximum allowed charge threshold for the annual incentive payment limit… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What is the definition of "reasonable cost" for critical access hospitals (CAHs) u…: The reasonable costs for which a CAH may receive an EHR incentive payment are the reasonable acquisition costs for th… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If a hospital is eligible to participate in both the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Inc…: If your hospital meets all of the following qualifications, it is dually-eligible for the Medicare and Medicai… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, is there a minimum number of hours per w…: Yes, a part-time EP who meets all other eligibility requirements could qualify for payments under the Medicaid EHR In… (more)
How is hospital-based status determined for eligible professionals in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic …: A hospital-based eligible professional (EP) is defined as an EP who furnishes 90% or more of their covered professional … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Does a provider have to record all clinical data in their certified EHR technology…: We recognize that providers are continuing to implement new workflow processes to accurately capture clinical data in… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, can a non-hospital based eligible professi…: Yes, an EP who sees patients in an in-patient setting, and is not hospital based, can include the in-patient encounte… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What if a group of providers purchase and share certified EHR technology? Can…: Yes, but only the portion that pertains to the specific CAH. If there is a special arrangement whe… (more)
For the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, should patient encounters …: Yes. EPs who practice in multiple locations must have 50 percent or more of their patient encounters during the reportin… (more)
[EHR Incentive Payments] How much are the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentive pa…: Under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, EPs who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology can receive up … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If an eligible professional (EP) meets the criteria for both the Medicare and Medi…: EPs Yes. EPs who meet the eligibility requirements for both the Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What is the earliest date the payment adjustments will start to be imposed on Medi…: Medicare payment adjustments will begin in 2015 for EPs and eligible hospitals that do not demonstrate meaningful use… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Under the Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, if an eligibl…: First, it is important to note that when discussing 2013, CMS stated that it expects to engage in another cycle of ru… (more)
Can the drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction alerts of my electronic health record (EHR) also be used to …: No. The drug-drug and drug-allergy checks and the implementation of one clinical decision support rule are separate core… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] To meet the meaningful use objective "use certified EHR technology to identify pat…: In the patient-specific education resources objective, education resources or materials do not have to be stored with… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Will ambulatory surgical centers be eligible for incentive payments under the Medi…: Ambulatory surgical centers are not eligible for EHR incentive payments. The following types of institutional provide… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] I entered numerator and denominator information during my Medicare Electronic Heal…: CMS does not plan to conduct an audit to find providers who relied on flawed software for their attestation informati… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, if the EHR Repo…: The payment year is the year for which the payment is made (see 42 CFR 495.4 and the definition of “First, second, th… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] To meet the Meaningful Use objective "maintain an up-to-date problem list of curre…: The Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs do not specify the use of ICD-9 and SNOME… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] How can I change my attestation information after I have attested and/or received …: If you discover that the information you entered during your Medicare attestation was not complete and accurate for some… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If the State chooses to use the cost report in the Medicaid EHR incentive hospital…: Based on the Medicare cost report guidance, Form CMS 2552-96 will be used until the implementation of the new Medicar… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can an eligible professional (EP) use EHR technology certified for an inpatient se…: Yes. For objectives and measures where the capabilities and standards of EHR technology designed and certified for an… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] When will a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) receive its Medicare EHR incentive paym…: Upon submission of a successful attestation, the CAH will be eligible for an EHR incentive payment. In order for the … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] How do I know if my electronic health record (EHR) system is certified? How can I …: The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs require the use of certified EHR technology, as established by a new se… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Do Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) sites have to meet the 30% minimum Med…: Eligible professionals may participate in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program if: 1) They meet Medicaid patient volume… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What provisions are there for tribal clinics to receive payments from the Medicare…: Clinics are not eligible for EHR incentive payments. However, eligible professionals who qualify for an EHR incentive pa… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, i…: No, the EP is not responsible for determining the status of CQMs that their certified EHR technology is not capable o… (more)
Are physicians who practice in hospital-based ambulatory clinics eligible to receive Medicare or Medicaid e…: A hospital-based eligible professional (EP) is defined as an EP who furnishes 90% or more of their services in either in… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] When will a Medicare Subsection (d) Hospital be paid under the Medicare EHR Incent…: Upon submission of a successful attestation of meaningful use, the hospital will be eligible for an EHR incentive pay… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What is the maximum electronic health record (EHR) incentive an eligible professio…: EPs who successfully demonstrate meaningful use certified EHR technology as early as 2011 or 2012 may be eligible for… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, can a qualifying eligible professional (…: Yes, EPs are permitted to reassign their incentive payments to their employer or to an entity with which they have a … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] In recording height as part of the core Meaningful Use objective "Recording vital …: In cases where taking an actual height measurement is inappropriate, self-reported or estimated height can be used…. (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are eligible professionals (EPs) who practice in State Mental Health and Long Term…: The setting in which a physician, nurse practitioner, certified nurse-midwife, or dentist practices is generally irre… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] When calculating inpatient bed days for the Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR…: Swing beds days that are used to furnish skilled nursing facility (SNF) or nursing facility-level care would not norm… (more)
What if the Home Office purchases the certified EHR technology for the Critical Access Hospital (CAH)?: If the certified EHR technology assets were purchased by the Home Office for the CAH, and the CAH meets the Meaningful U… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the meaningful use objective of "generate and transmit prescriptions electroni…: The denominator for this objective consists of the number of prescriptions written for drugs requiring a prescription… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can eligible professionals participate in the 2011 Physician Quality Reporting Sys…: The Physician Quality Reporting System, eRx Incentive Program, and EHR Incentive Program are three distinctly separat… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are Medicaid eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals subject to paymen…: There are no payment adjustments or penalties for Medicaid providers who fail to demonstrate meaningful use.F… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If a patient is dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, can they be counte…: For purposes of calculating the Medicaid share, a patient cannot be counted in the numerator if they would count for … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If my certified electronic health record (EHR) technology is capable of submitting…: Submitting batch files to an immunization registry, provided that they are formatted according to the standards adopt… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] How does CMS define Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and Rural Health Cent…: The Social Security Act at section 1905(l)(2) defines an FQHC as an entity which, "(i) is receiving a grant under sec… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] One of the menu set Meaningful Use objectives for the Medicare and Medicaid Electr…: The only requirement to meet the measure of this objective is that more than 40 percent of all clinical lab tests result… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] To meet the meaningful use objective "use computerized provider order entry (CPOE)…: If the patient has records that are maintained in both the hospital's certified EHR system and the EP's certified EHR sy… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] It seems that each State has the latitude to define the 12-month period from which…: No, this is not correct. The regulation is clear that the discharge-related amount must be calculated using a 12-mont… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) include costs to lease/rent certified EHR tec…: Under the statute and the regulations, the CAHs EHR incentive payment shall only include reasonable costs for the pur… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] To meet the meaningful use objective "provide patients with an electronic copy of …: If the request for an electronic copy of their health information is made by a patient to a specific EP, then the pat… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can Critical Access Hospital (CAH) costs only be included in the first year for Me…: No, if the CAH incurs reasonable costs for certified EHR technology in subsequent payment years, it may receive addit… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] How does CMS define pediatrician for purposes of the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program?: CMS does not define pediatrician for this program. Pediatricians have special eligibility and payment flexibilities o… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] One of the measures for the core set of clinical quality measures for eligible pro…: An eligible professional (EP) is not excluded from reporting core clinical quality measures. However, zero is an accepta… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What if a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) purchases certified EHR technology, and t…: The CAH may only include the portion of the reasonable costs of the hardware that pertains to certified EHR technolog… (more)
What is the reporting period for eligible professionals (EPs) participating in the electronic health record…: For demonstrating meaningful use through both the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, the EHR reporting period… (more)
Do I need to have an electronic health record (EHR) system in order to register for the Medicare and Medica…: You do not need to have a certified EHR in order to register for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. Howev… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] How will eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals apply for i…: Registration for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program is open and available online at … (more)
In a group practice, will each provider need to demonstrate meaningful use in order to get Medicare and Med…: Yes. Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments are made on a per EP basis, not by practice. Each EP will need to demonstr… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Will EHR Incentive Payments be subject to audits under OMB Circular A-133?: Incentive payments made to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals under the Medicar… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, i…: Through 2013, yes, the EP can submit results for CQMs in the additional set (Table 6 of the Stage 1 final rule) calcu… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If a patient visit spans several days and the patient is seen by multiple eligible…: When a patient visit lasts several days and the patient is seen by multiple EPs, a single clinical summary at the end… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can providers participating in the Medicare or Medicaid Electronic Health Record (…: Yes, providers who have registered for the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs may correct errors or update i… (more)
Do controlled substances qualify as "permissible prescriptions" for meeting the electronic prescribing (eRx…: The term "permissible prescriptions" refers to the restrictions that were established by the Department of Justice (DOJ)… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If a dually-eligible hospital initially registers only for the Medicaid EHR Incent…: Hospitals that are eligible for EHR incentive payments under both Medicare and Medicaid should select "Both Medicare … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can I use the electronic specifications for clinical quality measures to satisfy b…: No. Each program has specific specifications for reporting. In the future CMS expects to harmonize specifications bet… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Where can I find a list of public health agencies and immunization registries to s…: For information and/or instructions on where to submit your public health-related data, please contact your local or … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the meaningful use objective of "provide summary care record for each transiti…: No, patients who transition between EPs within the same practice and who share the same certified EHR technology should … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If a provider purchases a Complete Electronic Health Record (EHR) but opts to use …: To successfully demonstrate meaningful use a provider must do three things:1. Have certified EHR technology capa… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What costs can be included in the Critical Access Hospital's Medicare EHR incentiv…: The EHR incentive payment shall only include reasonable costs for the purchase of certified EHR technology to which p… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] How should patients in swing beds be counted in the denominators of meaningful use…: A number of the meaningful use measures for eligible hospitals and CAHs require the denominator to be based on the nu… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] The billing provider on a claim is an eligible professional (EP) but the performin…: In establishing an encounter for purposes of patient volume, please see the regulations at 495.306(e)(2)(i)-(ii) at 7… (more)
Are physicians who work in hospitals eligible to receive Medicare or Medicaid electronic health record (EHR…: Physicians who furnish substantially all, defined as 90% or more, of their covered professional services in either an in… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can eligible professionals (EPs) allow another person to register or attest for them?: Yes. Users registering or attesting on behalf of an EP must have an Identity and Access Management System (I&A) w… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What if the Home Office leases the certified EHR technology and allocates it to th…: If the Home Office is leasing the certified EHR technology, and allocating cost to the CAH, it cannot be included in … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] In order to satisfy the Meaningful Use objective for electronic prescribing (eRx) …: The meaningful use measure for e-prescribing is the electronic transmission of 40 percent of all permissible prescrip… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] The meaningful use standards for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Recor…: The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has awarded funds to 56 states, eligib… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are payments from the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incenti…: We note that nothing in the Act excludes such payments from taxation or as tax-free income. Therefore, it is our belief … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Is data sharing with neighboring States permitted regarding total Medicaid days fo…: Yes. The CMS Stage 1 final rule clarifies the policy about calculating patient volume for Medicaid provide… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) under the Medicare and…: No. For all clinical quality measures reported for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, the certified EH… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What if a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) purchases certified EHR technology, but i…: The CAH may only include the portion of the reasonable costs of the system that pertains to certified EHR technology … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What is meaningful use, and how does it apply to the Medicare and Medicaid Electro…: Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH Act), which was enacted under the Ameri… (more)
How will the public know who has received EHR incentive payments under Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive …: As required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, CMS will post the names, business addresses, and busi… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the meaningful use objective "Capability to submit electronic syndromic survei…: Syndromic surveillance uses individual and population health indicators that are available before confirmed diagnoses… (more)
Under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, will the requirement that eligible professionals and eligible hos…: If the State required any of the public health measures as core measures for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, then th… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] My electronic health record (EHR) system is CCHIT certified. Does that mean it is …: No. All EHR systems and technology must be certified specifically for this program. The Certified Health IT Product L… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the “Incorporate clinical lab-test results” menu objective of the Medicare and…: For the “Incorporate clinical lab-test results” menu objective, a provider’s certified EHR technology might return a … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Per CMS #3017 (or old FAQ #10417), my tribal clinic is considered a Federally Qual…: Since your clinic receives IHS funding, the encounters are not truly "uncompensated", but the encounters would be con… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] When we count encounters in a clinic or medical group (or medical home model) for …: Our regulations did not address whether these non-EP encounters could be considered in the estimate of patient volume… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] In order to qualify for payment under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program for havin…: Yes. This is an official letter from the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the IHS clinic genera… (more)
If I am receiving payments under the CMS Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program, can I also receive…: No, if an eligible professional (EP) earns an incentive under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, he or she cannot recei… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs' clinical quality measures (C…: The measure steward recommends that hospitals use the data element 'ED Patient', defined as any patient receiving car… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can a federally-owned Indian Health Service facility qualify as an eligible hospit…: Acute care hospitals under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program must: · Have an average length of stay of 2… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If patients are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, can they be counte…: For purposes of calculating the Medicaid share, a patient cannot be counted in the numerator if they would count for … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What if my electronic health record (EHR) system costs much more than the incentiv…: The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs provide incentives for the meaningful use of certified EHR technolog… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Under the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, …: To receive an EHR incentive payment, the provider (eligible professional (EP), eligible hospital or critica… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What is the purpose of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology?: Certification of EHR technology will provide assurance to purchasers and other users that an EHR system or product of… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] We are a tribal clinic with one full-time physician, one part-time pediatrician, o…: Clinics are not directly eligible for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program payments, however if the practitioners at yo… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If a State utilizes the option to include patient panels when looking at patient v…: The requirements for this option to calculate patient volume are to account for eligible professionals treating patients… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Under the Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, if a provider…: This is correct. 24 CFR 495.4 establishes a one-time exception for providers attesting to meaningful use in 2014 during … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, who do I contact to suggest …: Please contact the measure steward (the entity responsible for maintaining and updating a clinical quality measure) i… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, how do we determine Medicaid patient volum…: CMS leaves it up to the states how to operationalize the patient volume considerations of global payments with the follo… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Where can I get answers to my privacy and security questions about electronic heal…: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for enforcing the Privacy and Security rules related to the HITECH p… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are physicians who are employed directly by a tribally-operated facility and who m…: Physicians are one of the categories of eligible professionals under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. If they… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Will long term care providers such as nursing homes be eligible for incentive paym…: Nursing homes, per se, are not eligible. The following types of institutional providers are eligible for EHR incentiv… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are the criteria for needy patient volumes under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Progra…: Criteria for minimum patient volumes attributable to needy individuals apply only to EPs practicing predominantly in … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What is the maximum incentive an eligible professional (EP) can receive under the …: EPs who adopt, implement, upgrade, and meaningfully use EHRs can receive a maximum of $63,750 in incentive payments f… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What safeguards are in place to ensure that Medicaid electronic health record (EHR…: Like the Medicare EHR incentive program, neither the statute nor the CMS Stage 1 final rule dictate how a Medicaid … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are pediatric subspecialists considered pediatricians for purposes of qualifying u…: For the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, States will define “pediatrician” in a manner consistent with how they define… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For calculation of a Medicaid hospital’s electronic health record (EHR) incentive …: The average annual growth rate should be for discharges (see 1903(t)(5)(B), referring to the annual rate of growth of… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Do recipients of Medicare or Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive pay…: No. The Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive payments made to providers are not subject to Recovery Act 1512 reporting… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Does the provision requiring that States pay the incentive "without deduction or r…: The requirement that the incentives be passed to providers "without deduction or rebate" refers to requiring that the… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can tribal clinics be treated as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) for th…: CMS previously issued guidance stating that health care facilities owned and operated by American Indian and Alaska Nati… (more)
[EHR Incentiver Programs] If a State proposes a new definition for meaningful use under its Medicaid EHR In…: Yes, if a State wishes to request flexibility with the definition of meaningful use, to the extent permissible under … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Does a State have the option of solely using a state-submitted alternative methodo…: Yes, the State can submit to us for approval only the alternative methodology that meets the requirements of 495.306(g)…. (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] If a State has a team of staff members who will be administering the Medicaid EHR …: Yes. However, if state staff members are not working full-time on the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, their salaries … (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can hospitals in the U.S. Territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, Northern…: Hospitals in the U.S. Territories cannot receive incentive payments under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. For the… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Who is Figliozzi and Company?: Figliozzi and Company will be performing the meaningful use audits for CMS. If you are selected for an audit you… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Is there an assumption or expectation from CMS that States identify local Regional…: States are not required to identify RECs as EHR adoption entities. Under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, it is en… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Assuming that the request excludes activities funded by the Office of the National…: The enhanced match rate depends upon whether the Health Information Exchange solution is using Medicaid Management In… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Can Indian Health Service (IHS) clinics or group practices qualify for the panel t…: Yes, the Indian Health Service (IHS) has managed care and/or primary care patient panels and would be able to qualify… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What is Stage 2 for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs?: In August 2012, CMS published a final rule that specifies the Stage 2 meaningful use criteria that eligible professio… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] For the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, what changes were made to St…: The August 23, 2012, final rule includes some changes to the Stage 1 meaningful use objectives, measures, and exclusi… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] The EHR Incentive Programs Stage 1 Rule stated that, in order for a Medicaid encou…: Importantly, this change affecting the Medicaid patient volume calculation is applicable to all eligible providers, r… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] The EHR Incentive Programs Stage 2 Rule describes changes to how a state considers…: States that have offered CHIP as part of a Medicaid expansion under Title 19 or Title 21 can include those patients i… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] Are there any changes in the EHR Incentive Programs Stage 2 Rule to the base year …: Yes. Previously Medicaid eligible hospitals calculated the base year using a 12 month period ending in the Federal fisca… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What are the payment adjustments for eligible professionals who are not participat…: As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Congress mandated payment adjustments to be app… (more)
[EHR Incentive Programs] What are the payment adjustments for eligible hospitals and critical access hospit…: As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Congress mandated payment adjustments to be app… (more)

Meaningful Use Stage 2: CMS and ONC Release Final Rule for Meaningful Use and Certification

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Mike Squires

Meaningful Use Stage 2: CMS and ONC Release Final Rule for Meaningful Use and Certification
Excerpted from HealthIT.gov and CMS.gov on August 26, 2012

On August 23, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule which establishes Stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, updates Stage 1, and includes other program modifications. At the same time the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) released the 2014 Edition Standards and Certification Criteria (S&CC) final rule which completes ONC’s second full rulemaking cycle to adopt standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for EHR technology.

The CMS final rule specifies the Stage 2 criteria that eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must meet in order to continue to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs. All providers must achieve meaningful use under the Stage 1 criteria before moving to Stage 2.

The 2014 Edition S&CC final rule reflects ONC’s commitment to reduce regulatory burden; promote patient safety and patient engagement; enhance EHR technology’s interoperability, electronic health information exchange capacity, public health reporting, and security; enable clinical quality measure data capture, calculation, and electronic submission to CMS or states; and introduce greater transparency and efficiency to the certification process.

CMS Final Rule

CMS Resources

ONC Final Rule

ONC Resources

Other Resources

How to Play by the (Final) Rules: An Overview of Meaningful Use Stage 2 and the Standards and Certification Criteria Final Rules: Webinar recording and presentation materials

Stage 2 Timeline
The earliest that the Stage 2 criteria will be effective is in fiscal year 2014 for eligible hospitals and CAHs or calendar year 2014 for EPs. The table below illustrates the progression of meaningful use stages from when a Medicare provider begins participation in the program.

1st Year	Stage of Meaningful Use
1st Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
2011	1	1	1	2	2	3	3	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
2012		1	1	2	2	3	3	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
2013			1	1	2	2	3	3	TBD	TBD	TBD
2014				1	1	2	2	3	3	TBD	TBD
2015					1	1	2	2	3	3	TBD
2016						1	1	2	2	3	3
2017							1	1	2	2	3

Note that providers who were early demonstrators of meaningful use in 2011 will meet three consecutive years of meaningful use under the Stage 1 criteria before advancing to the Stage 2 criteria in 2014. All other providers would meet two years of meaningful use under the Stage 1 criteria before advancing to the Stage 2 criteria in their third year.

In the first year of participation, providers must demonstrate meaningful use for a 90-day EHR reporting period; in subsequent years, providers will demonstrate meaningful use for a full year EHR reporting period (an entire fiscal year for hospitals or an entire calendar year for EPs) except in 2014, which is described below. Providers who participate in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs are not required to demonstrate meaningful use in consecutive years as described by the table above, but their progression through the stages of meaningful use would follow the same overall structure of two years meeting the criteria of each stage, with the first year of meaningful use participation consisting of a 90-day EHR reporting period.

For 2014 only, all providers regardless of their stage of meaningful use are only required to demonstrate meaningful use for a 3-month EHR reporting period. For Medicare providers, this 3-month reporting period is fixed to the quarter of either the fiscal (for eligible hospitals and CAHs) or calendar (for EPs) year in order to align with existing CMS quality measurement programs, such as the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR). The 3-month reporting period is not fixed for Medicaid EPs and hospitals that are only eligible to receive Medicaid EHR incentives, where providers do not have the same alignment needs. CMS is permitting this one-time 3-month reporting period in 2014 only so that all providers who must upgrade to 2014 Certified EHR Technology will have adequate time to implement their new Certified EHR systems.

Core and Menu Objectives
Stage 2 uses a core and menu structure for objectives that providers must to achieve in order to demonstrate meaningful use. Core objectives are objectives that all providers must meet. There is also a predetermined number of menu objectives that providers must select from a list and meet in order to demonstrate meaningful use.
To demonstrate meaningful use under Stage 2 criteria—

EPs must meet 17 core objectives and 3 menu objectives that they select from a total list of 6, or a total of 20 core objectives.
Eligible hospitals and CAHs must meet 16 core objectives and 3 menu objectives that they select from a total list of 6, or a total of 19 core objectives.

Download the Stage 2 Overview Tipsheet for a complete list of the Stage 2 core and menu objectives for both EPs and eligible hospitals and CAHs. Providers can also download a table of the Stage 2 core and menu objectives and measures by clicking on the links below:

Stage 1 vs. Stage 2 Core and Menu Objectives for EPs
Stage 1 vs. Stage 2 Core and Menu Objectives for Eligible Hospitals and CAHs

Clinical Quality Measures for 2014 and Beyond
All providers are required to report on CQMs in order to demonstrate meaningful use. Beginning in 2014, all providers regardless of their stage of meaningful use will report on CQMs in the same way.

EPs must report on 9 out of 64 total CQMs.
Eligible hospitals and CAHs must report on 16 out of 29 total CQMs.

In addition, all providers must select CQMs from at least 3 of the 6 key health care policy domains recommended by the Department of Health and Human Sevices’ National Quality Strategy:

Patient and Family Engagement
Patient Safety
Care Coordination
Population and Public Health
Efficient Use of Healthcare Resources
Clinical Processes/Effectiveness

A complete list of 2014 CQMs and their associated National Quality Strategy domains will be posted on the Clinical Quality Measures tab in the future. CMS will also post a recommended core set of CQMs for EPs that focus on high-priority clinical conditions.
For more detailed information on 2014 CQMs and electronic reporting options, click to download our 2014 Clinical Quality Measures Tipsheet.

ONC and CMS @HIMSS12 Annual Conference & Exhibition — Las Vegas

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Mike Squires

Federals at HIMSS12 Annual Conference & Exhibition
February 20-24, 2012 · Las Vegas, NV
Accessed and excerpted from HealthIT.gov on Feb 18, 2012

Representatives from ONC, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), and other Federal agencies will be at HIMSS to share information about their health IT initiatives. Below are highlights from the HIMSS schedule of events. For a complete list of participating Federal agencies and their educational sessions, visit the Federal section of the HIMSS12 website.

HIMSS Schedule of Events

Time	Location	Event
Monday, February 20, 2012
8:45-9:30 a.m.	Lando 4204	HIE Symposium – Opening Keynote HIE: The Next Generation and Beyond Doug Fridsma, Director, Office of Standards and Interoperability
9:30-10:30 a.m.	Lando 4204	HIE Symposium – Inter Agency Collaboration: A Federal Update John Allison, Health Insurance Specialist Claudia Williams, Director, State HIE Program
10:45-11:45 a.m.	Lando 4204	HIE Symposium – State Collaborations: Current Trends and Future Directions Lee Stevens, Program Manager, State HIE Program
11 a.m.-12 p.m.	San Paolo 3504	Physicians’ IT Symposium – Optimizing Your EHR Value Through Patient Engagement Judy Murphy, RN, Deputy National Coordinator
12:45-1:45 p.m.	Lando 4204	HIE Symposium – SLHIE: Moving from Planning to Implementation Jessica Kahn, Technical Director for Health IT Claudia Williams, Director, State HIE Program
1-2 p.m.	Veronese 2506	Achieving Meaningful Use Symposium – CMS and ONC Present Stage 2 Essential Knowledge Robert Anthony, Policy Analyst, CMS Steven Posnack, Director, Federal Policy Division, ONC
1:30-2:30 p.m.	Veronese 2406	Performance Measurement and CDS Symposium: Leveraging CDS at the Point of Care to Optimize Quality Measure Outcomes Jacob Reider, MD, ONC Senior Policy Advisor
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
9:45-10:45 a.m.	Casanova 503	Health IT Update from HRSA Yael Harris, PhD, MHS, Director, Office of Health IT & Quality
9:45-10:45 a.m.	Lando 4303	Stage 2 Meaningful Use Elizabeth Holland, Director, HIT Initiatives Group Jessica Kahn, Technical Director for Health IT
9:45-10:45 a.m.	Galileo 1001	Direct Project Panel Discussion Moderator: Doug Fridsma, Director, Office of Standards and Interoperability
9:45-10:45 a.m.	TBD	HIE National Landscape, Monitoring States Momentum Moderator: Lee Stevens, Program Manager, State HIE Program
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.	Casanova 503	CDC and Meaningful Use: Strengthening the Link Between Healthcare Providers and Public Health Seth Foldy, MD, MPH, FAAFP, Senior Advisor, Public Health Surveillance & Informatics Program Office
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.	Lando 4303	ONC Consumer Outreach/Pledge Initiative Lygeia Ricciardi, Senior Policy Advisor for Consumer e-Health
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.	San Polo 3503	Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs: Meaningful Use Stage 1 Overview Travis Broome, Policy Analyst Elizabeth Holland, Director, HIT Initiatives Group Jessica Kahn, Technical Director for Health IT Robert Anthony, Policy Analyst
12:15-1:15 p.m.	San Polo 3503	Redefining Health Care: Advancing Patient-Centered Care Through Health IT Carolyn Clancy, MD, Director of AHRQ
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
8:30-9:30 a.m.	San Polo 3503	ONC Certification Programs – Update and Next Steps Doug Fridsma, Director, Office of Standards and Interoperability Steve Posnack, Director, Federal Policy Division Carol Bean, Director, Certification Division
9:45-10:45 a.m.	San Polo 3503	Stage 2 Meaningful Use: An Introduction Travis Broome, Policy Analyst, CMS Elizabeth Holland, Director, HIT Initiatives Group, CMS Steve Posnack, Director, Federal Policy Division, ONC Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
1-2 p.m.	Casanova 503	Update on HIPAA Initiatives David Sayen, Regional Administrator, CMS Elizabeth Reed, Health Insurance Specialist, CMS
2:15-3:45 p.m.	San Polo 3503	ONC Townhall: Advancing Health IT Into the Future Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Thursday, February 23, 2012
8:30-9:30 a.m.	Palazzo Ballroom	Keynote speaker Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
9:45-10:45 a.m.	San Polo 3503	Privacy and Security – You Can Do It and Here’s How Joy Pritts, Chief Privacy Officer, ONC
9:45-10:45 a.m.	Venetian Showroom	Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs: Stage 2 NPRM Overview Travis Broome, Policy Analyst, CMS Elizabeth Holland, Director, HIT Initiatives Group, CMS Jessica Kahn, Technical Director for Health IT, CMS Robert Anthony, Policy Analyst, CMS
1-2 p.m.	TBD	RECs: Accelerating Meaningful Use Kimberly Lynch, Director of the REC Program
1-2 p.m.	Lido 3106	Stage 2: Exchange of Information and Public Health Objectives Jessica Kahn, Technical Director for Health IT, CMS Robert Anthony, Policy Analyst, CMS Steven Posnack, Director, Federal Policy Division, ONC
1-2 p.m.	Murano 3306	Consumer E-Technology in Action: Four Implementation Examples from Beacon Communities Korey Capozza, Utah Beacon Drew McNicol, Western New York Beacon Alan Snell, MD, Indiana Beacon Barbara Sorondo, Maine Beacon
2:15-3:15 p.m.	Marco Polo 705	IOM Study-Patient Safety Jacob Reider, MD, ONC Senior Policy Advisor
2:15-4:15 p.m.	San Polo 3503	Stage 2: Clinical Quality Measures Travis Broome, Policy Analyst, CMS Steve Posnack, Director, Federal Policy Division, ONC
Friday, February 24, 2012
10:00-11:00 a.m.	San Polo 3503	HIPAA Privacy and Security Regulations Leon Rodriguez, Director of OCR
11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.	Venetian Showroom	Stage 2: Payment Adjustments and Changes from Stage 1 Travis Broome, Policy Analyst, CMS Robert Anthony, Policy Analyst, CMS

Theater Booth Sessions – Exhibit Hall, Booths 14624/14824

CMS and ONC will be presenting on special topics in health IT and meaningful use at the theater booth in the HIMSS exhibit hall.

Time	Presentation Topic
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
1:30-2:15 p.m.	Workforce: The Use of Immersive Learning Environments in Online HIT Technology
3:00-3:30 p.m.	Medicaid Patient Volume
4:00-5:45 p.m.	Beacon Communities: Bringing HITECH to Life – Beacon Project Highlights – IT-Enabled Care Coordination, HIT Infrastructure to Support Pioneer ACOs, and Mobile Technology in Support of Better Diabetes Management
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
9:45-10:30 a.m.	Query Health: Demonstrating How to Send Questions to the Data
11:00-11:30 a.m.	Overview and Timeline for Incentives and Payment Adjustments
12:00-12:45 p.m.	NwHN Exchange Opportunities and the Path Forward
2:45-3:30 p.m.	AHRQ: Model Children’s EHR Format
4:00-4:30 p.m.	FAQs on Stage 1 Meaningful Use
5:00-5:45 p.m.	The popHealth Challenge Demonstration: Patient Engagement Reminders for popHealth Measures
Thursday, February 23, 2012
10:00-10:30 a.m.	How States Are Auditing the Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.	Overview of Stage 2 Meaningful Use
3:00-3:45 p.m.	Privacy & Security: Privacy Protection for Substance Abuse Treatment Information
4:00-4:45 p.m.	Workforce: Using the ONC-HIT Teaching Materials

ONC “Talk to the Expert” Sessions – Exhibit Booth #14824

ONC will be hosting “Talk to the Expert” sessions at its exhibit booth. Stop by to learn about:

ONC resources
Certification and Standards/Interoperability
ONC’s Regional Extension Centers, Beacon, and Workforce programs.

Engage with ONC during the Conference Online

During HIMSS, ONC will be engaging people online through its social media properties by:

Hosting discussions on LinkedIn
Tweeting live from the event
Loading all of their handouts from the conference on Scribd

If you are not already a member of our LinkedIn group, or following us on Twitter (@ONC_HealthIT), sign up today to join the discussion!

Don’t forget to check out Scribd to download handouts from HIMSS!

For More Information

HIMSS12 website

ONC Blogs on multi-EHR certification and other issues

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Mike Squires

Perpetually Perplexed by Regulatory Interpretations? Separate the Fact from Fiction
June 10, 2011, 2:45 pm /Posted by Steven Posnack, Director Federal Policy Division, ONC, on ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog and republished by e-Healthcare Marketing here.

If enough people believe something, it has to be true, right? In my travels, I’ve found that regulatory interpretations range from being largely factual to wildly fictitious. The latter often results from misinterpretations of regulatory language, improper combinations of regulatory language from different rules, or accurate interpretations getting lost in translation as they are passed from person-to-person. These inaccurate interpretations, intentional or not, often unsurprisingly lead to confusion. Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful to clear up a few things I’ve heard related to certification.

Statement 1: If an eligible professional or eligible hospital combines multiple certified electronic health record (EHR) Modules together (or a certified EHR Module[s] with a certified Complete EHR), that combination also needs to be separately certified in order for it to meet the definition of Certified EHR Technology – *FICTION*
- Part 2 of the definition of Certified EHR Technology acknowledges that a combination of certified EHR Modules can be used to meet the definition of Certified EHR Technology. At 75 FR 2023, we clarified that as long as each EHR Module which makes up the combination has been certified, the definition could be met. See also FAQ 17.
- Combining certified EHR Modules or certified EHR Modules with a certified Complete EHR (or even two certified Complete EHRs) will not invalidate the certification assigned to the EHR technologies. Each EHR technology retains the certification assigned to it. Our FAQs (such as #7, #14, and #21) identify cases where combining certified Complete EHRs with other certified EHR Modules could occur without any negative effects.
- Note, generating the “CMS EHR Certification ID” on ONC’s Certified HIT Products List (CHPL) for meaningful use attestation purposes is different. Using the CHPL, an eligible professional (EP) or eligible hospital (EH) generates a CMS EHR Certification ID (a unique alpha-numeric string) to report to CMS as part of its attestation. The CMS EHR Certification ID represents the combination of certified EHR Modules or other combination of certified EHR technologies that meet the definition of Certified EHR Technology and were used during the meaningful use reporting period.
Statement 2: The ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs) operate under contract with and receive funding from ONC – *FICTION*
- ONC-ATCBs do not receive funding from ONC to perform their ONC-ATCB duties. ONC-ATCBs support their operations through testing and certification fees charged to Complete EHR and EHR Module developers.
- The Temporary Certification Program Final Rule established certain responsibilities and rules for ONC-ATCBs. ONC-ATCBs must fulfill these requirements and adhere to the rules in order to maintain good standing under the program. For example, ISO/IEC Guide 65 requires ONC-ATCBs to make their services accessible to all applicants (e.g., EHR developers) whose activities fall within its declared field of operation (e.g., the temporary certification program), including not having any undue financial or other conditions.
Statement 3: Testing and certification under the Temporary Certification Program does not examine whether two randomly combined EHR Modules will be compatible or work together – *FACT*
- ONC-ATCBs are not required to examine the compatibility of two or more EHR Modules with each other. EHR Module developers, however, are free, and highly encouraged, to work together to ensure that EHR Modules are compatible.
Statement 4: The ONC-ATCBs favor big EHR technology developers – *FICTION*
- The ONC-ATCBs do not favor large developers, and such favoritism is precluded by the international standards to which ONC-ATCBs must adhere.
- As of June 3, 2011, 438 EHR technology developers were represented on the CHPL. Of those, approximately 60 percent are small companies (<51 employees) and approximately 12 percent are large companies (>200 employees).
Statement 5: Certification doesn’t require that an EHR technology designed by one EHR developer make its data accessible or “portable” to another EHR technology designed by a different developer – *FACT*
- We are very interested in exploring future certification requirements to improve data portability.
- If you have any insights on how to improve data portability between EHR technologies, please feel free to leave a comment below.
Statement 6: As an EP or EH, you need to demonstrate meaningful use in the exact way that EHR technology was tested and certified – *FICTION* (mostly)
- See the jointly posted ONC and CMS FAQs (#24 or 10473)
Statement 7: Certifications “expire” every two years – *FICTION*
- A certification represents a “snapshot.” It indicates that EHR technology has met specific certification criteria at a fixed point in time. In other words, an EHR technology would not “lose its certification” after a given time period. If, however, certification requirements change (e.g., new and/or revised certification criteria are adopted), the snapshot the certification represents would no longer accurately reflect that the EHR technology meets the changed requirements.
- In our certification program rules, we indicated that we anticipated adopting new and/or revised certification criteria every two years to coincide with changes to the meaningful use objectives and measures under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. We did not, however, set a specific expiration for certifications. Rather, we explained that once the Secretary adopts new and/or revised certification criteria, EHR technology may need to be tested and certified again. In other words, the previously taken snapshot would no longer accurately represent what is required to meet the adopted certification criteria and, thus, would no longer be sufficient to support an EP or EH’s ability to achieve updated meaningful use requirements.
- For more information about the validity of a certification, please refer to the Temporary Certification Program final rule (75 FR 36188) and the Permanent Certification Program final rule (76 FR 1301).

As someone who has played a roll in drafting all of ONC’s regulations, I take pride in making our rules readily understandable and as easy to read as possible. Sometimes, though, no matter how hard we try to convey a regulation’s intent, there is always another believable interpretation. Hopefully, this blog helps clear up a few points and furthers your personal understanding of our rules.
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To post comments directly on ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog post, click here.

CMS Publishes PDF of EHR Incentive Program FAQs: 85 Pages, May 2

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Mike Squires

85 Pages of FAQs for EHR Incentive Program (pdf)
Click here for PDF version updated on May 2, 2011
Since May 2 PDF, some FAQs have updated electronically on CMS Web site, and links to online FAQs are below.

CMS FAQs

Leading FAQs: When’s the money coming for Eligible Professionals under the Medicare Program?
Medicaid Programs are rolling out on state-by-state basis.

Excerpted on May 14, 2011:
For the 2011 payment year, how and when will incentive payments be made to Eligible Professionals?

Published 10/18/2010 10:36 AM | Updated 04/26/2011 05:42 PM | Answer ID 10160

For the 2011 payment year, how and when will incentive payments for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs be made?

For eligible professionals (EPs), incentive payments for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program will be made approximately four to eight weeks after an EP successfully attests that they have demonstrated meaningful use of certified EHR technology. However, EPs will not receive incentive payments within that timeframe if they have not yet met the threshold for allowed charges for covered professional services furnished by the EP during the year. Payments will be held until the EP meets the $24,000 threshold in allowed charges for calendar year 2011 in order to maximize the amount of the EHR incentive payment they receive. If the EP has not met the $24,000 threshold in allowed charges by the end of calendar year 2011, CMS expects to issue an incentive payment for the EP in March 2012 (allowing 60 days after the end of the 2011 calendar year for all pending claims to be processed). Payments to Medicare EPs will be made to the taxpayer identification number (TIN) selected at the time of registration, through the same channels their claims payments are made. The form of payment (electronic funds transfer or check) will be the same as claims payments.

Bonus payments for EPs who practice predominantly in a geographic Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) will be made as separate lump-sum payments no later than 120 days after the end of the calendar year for which the EP was eligible for the bonus payment.

Please note that the 90-day reporting period an EP selects does not affect the amount of the EHR incentive payments. The Medicare EHR incentive payments to EPs are based on 75% of the estimated allowed charges for covered professional services furnished by the EP during the entire payment year. If the EP has not met the $24,000 threshold in allowed charges at the time of attestation, CMS will hold the incentive payment until the EP meets the threshold as described above.

Medicare EHR incentive payments to eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) will also be made approximately four to eight weeks after the eligible hospital or CAH successfully attests to having demonstrated meaningful use of certified EHR technology. Eligible hospitals and CAHs will receive an initial payment and a final payment. Eligible hospitals and CAHs that attest in April can receive their initial payment as early as May 2011. Final payment will be determined at the time of settling the hospital cost report.

Please note that the Medicaid incentives will be paid by the States, but the timing will vary according to State. Please contact your State Medicaid Agency for more details about payment.

When will CMS begin to pay incentives to EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs for using certified…..

Published 08/13/2010 04:12 PM | Updated 04/18/2011 11:14 AM | Answer ID 10066

When will the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) begin to pay incentives to eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) for using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology?

Payments for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program are expected to be available as early as May 2011. Attestation for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program opened on April 18, 2011. Registration for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program began on January 3, 2011 and is available online at https://ehrincentives.cms.gov. Please note that although the Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs began January 3, 2011, not all states are ready to participate at this time. Information on when registration will be available for Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs in specific States is posted at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/40_MedicaidStateInfo.asp.

For more information about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, please visit: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms.

Online FAQs for CMS EHR Incentive Program

Path To Payment
Eligibility
- Eligible Professionals (EPs)
- Eligible Hospitals
Registration and Attestation
Certified EHR Technology
Meaningful Use
Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Basics
Medicaid State Information
Medicare Advantage

All EHR Incentive Program FAQs

Blumenthal Letter #24: Our Journey Continues: $80 Million in Add’l Funds to RECs, 8 HIEs, and Community Colleges

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Mike Squires

Our Journey Continues…

Dr. David Blumenthal

A Message from Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

January 27, 2011 (accessed 1/27/2011 from ONC site)

With the new year, we are turning the page to a next chapter in our journey to adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (HIT). As we begin this chapter, ONC is accelerating progress with new funding for programs vital to our goals.

No doubt the “star player” in 2011 is the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Programs. As of this year, providers can begin qualifying for significant payments through Medicare and Medicaid, as they achieve meaningful use objectives.

But equally important are the “supporting players.” These are the programs created under the HITECH Act to help providers adopt and achieve meaningful use of EHRs through technical assistance, through information exchange, and through development of a new workforce of HIT specialists.

These supporting programs all started last year, and they’ve had a successful launch:

We funded 62 Regional Extension Centers (RECs) across the nation to provide technical assistance, especially for smaller practice primary care providers, rural hospitals and other settings which serve the underserved. We want the RECs to assist at least 100,000 primary care providers. And already, some 38,000 primary care providers have enrolled for REC assistance.
We created a state grant program to support health information exchange (HIE) and facilitate all the potential uses and benefits of secure information sharing. Already, approved HIE implementation plans are in place in 25 states.
We funded 84 community colleges to train HIT specialists that will help to meet the anticipated national shortage of 50,000. The first 3,400 students will graduate by May, 2011 – and with excellent job prospects.

This month we are adding new funding for these important initiatives:

For the RECs, we are providing additional funding of $32 million. This especially reflects our plan to accelerate outreach to health care providers to encourage registration for the CMS Incentive Programs and to provide more support in the field as providers adopt health information technology in their practices. We recognize that the early transition to HIT can be challenging and we want to make sure that our RECs are fully operational to help make this transition as smooth as possible. We are committed to offer substantial ongoing support to achieve meaningful use through the RECs.

For HIE, we are providing $16 million in new Challenge Grants to encourage breakthrough innovations for health information exchange that can be leveraged widely to support nationwide health information exchange and interoperability. The HIE Challenge Grant Program is providing 10 awards of between $1 and $2 million to State HIE Cooperative Agreement Program grantees, to develop innovative and scalable solutions in five key areas: achieving specific health goals, improving care transitions, consumer-mediated information exchange, enhanced querying for patient care, and fostering distributed population-level analytics.

For community colleges, $32 million in second year funding is being provided to continue academic HIT programs training the specialists needed to make rapid adoption and meaningful use possible. We remain on track to ramp up and graduate an estimated 10,500 students a year through our community college programs.

In playing their part for HIT adoption and meaningful use, every awardee in our supporting programs is a star! Awardees and funding amounts for these programs can be found at http://healthit.hhs.gov.

Warmest Regards,
David Blumenthal, MD, MPP
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) encourages you to share this information as we work together to enhance the quality, safety and value of care and the health of all Americans through the use of electronic health records and health information technology.

For more information and to receive regular updates from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, please subscribe to our Health IT News list.
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See list of newly awarded challenge grants to state HIEs on e-Healthcare Marketing.

CMS Produces EHR Registration Video for Eligible Professionals

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Mike Squires

CMS Video Provides Step-by-Step Registration Guidance for Eligible Professionals for the EHR Incentives Program

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has produced an 11-minute step-by-step video tutorial for registration for the EHR Incentive Payments Programs for Eligible Professionals.

Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Webinar Video for Eligible Professionals [44.2MB - WMV] -
Per CMS “This tutorial video will provide Eligible Professionals with a step-by-step guide to help ensure the registration process is a success.” This may take several minutes to download. Clicking on the title immediately above or the photo will start downloading the video.

A transcript of this webinar is available [PDF] .

Register for the Medicare and/or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs

Below are step-by-step PDF guides to help you register for EHR Incentive Programs. Choose the guide that fits your needs:

Medicaid EHR Incentives Registration for Eligible Professionals opened in the following states on January 3, 2011:

Alaska
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Michigan
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
TexasOther states likely will launch their Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs during the spring and summer of 2011.

For more information about expected Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs see State EHR Incentive Program Launch Times and HIT Websites.

This post contains excerpts from the CMS EHR Incentives Payment Program, accessed on 1/19/2011.

ONC and CMS: Blog Post on Resources to Become ‘Meaningful User’

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Mike Squires

Becoming a Meaningful User of EHRs: Resources from ONC and CMS
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 | Posted by: Julie Franklin CMS and Peter Garrett ONC on ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog and republished here by e-Healthcare Marketing.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) want to help you on your journey to becoming a meaningful user of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology. Here are resources about meaningful use, Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, and the EHR certification process to help guide you:

Meaningful Use and Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs

1) Meaningful Use Overview
https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/01_Overview.asp

2) Path to Payment
https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/10_PathtoPayment.asp

3) PowerPoint Presentation: Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs Final Rule
https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/Downloads/EHR_Incentive_Program_Agency_Training_v8-20.pdf

4) Timeline: Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/Downloads/EHRIncentProgtimeline508.pdf

5) Being a Meaningful User of Electronic Health Records
http://healthit.hhs.gov/meaningfuluse/provider

6) Meaningful Use Specification Sheets
https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/Downloads/EP-MU-TOC-Core-and-MenuSet-Objectives.pdf

7) Flow Chart – Determine Eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/downloads/eligibility_flow_chart.pdf

Certification

1) Certification Programs Overview
http://healthit.hhs.gov/certification

2) Standards and Certification Criteria Final Rule Fact Sheet
http://healthit.hhs.gov/standardsandcertification/factsheet

3) HITECH Temporary Certification Program for EHR Technology Fact Sheet
http://healthit.hhs.gov/tempcert/factsheet

4) Temporary Certification Program Final Rule Frequently Asked Questions
http://healthit.hhs.gov/tempcert/faqs

5) Permanent Certification Program
http://healthit.hhs.gov/permcert/factsheet

6) Certified Health IT Product List
http://healthit.hhs.gov/chpl

Privacy and Security

1) Building Trust in Health Information Exchange
http://healthit.hhs.gov/buildingtrust

2) Health Information Privacy and Information on HIPAA
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/

For additional resources on certification and meaningful use check out ONC’s Meaningful Use resources:
http://healthit.hhs.gov/meaningfuluse/resources.

ONC has also funded 62 Regional Extension Centers, located across the country, to offer customized, on-the-ground assistance for providers who need help adopting and meaningfully using certified EHR technology.

You can also stay up to date on ONC and CMS activities by:

Signing up for ONC’s e-mail updates or
Visiting CMS’ Spotlight and Upcoming Events at: https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/50_Spotlight.asp

What resources or tools from ONC, CMS, or other organizations have you or your practice used to help you become a meaningful user? What challenges have you faced on your road to meaningful use? We encourage you to start a dialogue and share your comments [on the ONC site].
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Please share your comments directly on the ONC Health IT Buzz blog post.

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