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Sophie Scheidlinger · Jun 24, 2015

Meaningful Use deadline for hardship exception is July 1

Did you receive a letter from CMS notifying you that your 2015 Medicare reimbursements were reduced? If you’re an eligible provider for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program but didn’t participate in 2013, your Medicare reimbursements will be reduced for the 2015 payment year. Similarly, penalties for eligible providers that didn’t successfully participate in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2014 will begin on January 1, 2016.

Eligible professionals may be exempt from penalties if they can show that fulfilling Meaningful Use requirements would result in a significant hardship. Medicare eligible professionals can avoid the 2016 payment adjustment by applying for a 2016 hardship exception by 11:59pm ET on July 1, 2015.

The hardship exception applications and instructions for individual and multiple Medicare eligible professionals are available on the CMS website. They outline the specific types of circumstances that CMS considers to be barriers to achieving Meaningful Use, and how to apply.

Eligible professionals can use the Hardship Exception Tool to determine if they will avoid the upcoming 2015 and 2016 Medicare EHR Incentive Program payment adjustments by demonstrating Meaningful Use, or if they should apply for a hardship exception.