The HITECH Act laid out an extremely ambitious path for all stakeholders in the health care system to rapidly adopt health information technology. In particular, it placed a significant impetus on providers and many have felt that the rush has left them without sufficient information to support them in the EHR adoption process.
EHR vendors have tried to interpret legislative language and CMS policies and give providers a succinct interpretation of next steps and pending items. The reality is that providers still feel lost, burdened and, at times, overwhelmed by Meaningful Use and other requirements to receive EHR incentives.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid are working diligently to ensure that providers have the information that they require and recently released the Eligible Professional HIT Planner and a set of updated frequently asked questions (FAQs).
Eligible Professional HIT Planner
The new HIT planner is short, simple, and to the point. It outlines the benchmarks that providers must reach in the next two years to be eligible to receive full EHR incentive benefits. I highly recommend that providers visit the CMS website, download the planner, and use it to plan how they will proceed with pursuing EHR Incentive payments.
Updated FAQs answer long-standing questions
The previous FAQs on the CMS website were in need of some assistance and clarification. CMS has done a thorough revamp and answered a key question that had previously escaped clarification: Reporting Periods.
CMS defines the EHR Meaningful Use reporting period as 90-days during a provider’s first year participating in the program and 365 days in subsequent years. The previous language insinuated that 2011 was the only year that providers were eligible for just 90 days of meaningful use. This previous language is incorrect. This is great news as it guarantees that providers are eligible to receive full EHR incentive benefits as long as they adopt and begin to demonstrate Meaningful Use before October 2012!
Providers should, nevertheless, not delay adoption or attestation of Meaningful Use. It is wise to front-load effort to ensure maximum EHR incentive qualification and take advantage of stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria. There are additional materials in the Practice Fusion Stimulus Center. Be sure to check it out regularly!
Thomas McMennamin
Health Policy Manager
Practice Fusion EHR
