Author: Margaret Young Levi

February 28th Deadline for EPs To File Attestation for EHR Incentives and CQMs

Margaret Young Levi EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus

The deadline is fast approaching for eligible professionals (“EPs”) to file attestations to receive electronic health record (“EHR”) incentives available under Medicare’s Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH Act”). 

To receive an EHR incentive payment, EPs, such as physicians, dentists, podiatrists, optometrists and chiropractors, must show they are “meaningfully using” their EHRs in ways that can positively improve patient care by meeting certain objectives and reporting certain clinical quality measures (“CQMs”).  EPs must also file an attestation that they have met the thresholds and all of the requirements of the Medicare EHR Incentive Program.  EPs who participate in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2012 must submit the CQMs and file an attestation with CMS for the 2012 program year by February 28, 2013. 

If you are participating in the pilot program to submit your CQM data electronically, please be aware that your window to file is limited because of a planned system downtime.  You will be unable to file your CQM data beginning at 11:59 p.m. ET tomorrow, Friday, February 22 through Sunday, February 24 at 11:59 p.m. ET because CMS has a system outage already scheduled that will affect CQM filing.  (We understand, but have been unable to verify, that you may still file an attestation during the outage.)  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) warns that “[f]ailure to submit your CQMs electronically by 11:59pm ET on February 28 will result in your attestation being rejected for the 2012 program year.” 

We also recommend you not wait until the last minute—as CMS expects a high volume of users on both the Physician Quality Reporting System (“PQRS”) and EHR Incentive Program systems over the next week.  Please keep this in mind when planning for your CQM data submission and completion of your 2012 attestation. 

For additional information regarding the EHR Incentive Program, check out CMS’ EHR Incentive Programs website.  Its Educational Materials in particular are quite helpful.  In addition, CMS has recently updated its frequently asked questions (“FAQs”) related to the EHR Incentive Programs.    

The Long-Awaited HIPAA Omnibus Rule Has Been Issued!

Margaret Young Levi Health Information Technology

Earlier today we predicted the long-awaited HIPAA-HITECH Omnibus Rule under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act) would soon be released–and we were correct! 

Today the U.S. Department for Health & Human Services (HHS) issued a press release announcing the Rule would be as published on 01/25/2013. Click here to view the press release.  HHS believes “the changes in the final rulemaking provide the public with increased protection and control of personal health information”  by expanding requirements for business associates, increasing penalties for non-compliance, and clarifying HHS must be notified of breaches. The Rule expands patient’s rights to access and control use and disclosure of protected health infromation. 

A pre-publication PDF version of the Rule may be viewed here.

Long-awaited HIPAA Omnibus Rule may be released soon

Margaret Young Levi Federal Law Resources, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Privacy & Security

“Rumor has it” that the long-awaited HIPAA-HITECH Omnibus Rule under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act) will be released the week of January 21st or 28th. While similar rumors have abounded for many months, this one may have some merit.

It is reasonable to expect the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to release the final OMNIBUS regulations as soon as late January or early February based on the fact that the OMB has had the rule for almost a year to perform a perfunctory final review. The Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) released the Rule to OMB for review, one of the last steps before publication in the Federal Register, on March 24, 2012. OMB had the standard 90-day period to perform its review, but requested an extension. Some have speculated that the pending election last year may have played a part in delaying the Rule.

The Modern Healthcare’s IT Everything blog also posted recently that “in February, there is a HIPAA summit mid-month” that “calls for regulators to give a talk on the final rule.” Read more here.

The much-anticipated HIPAA Rule is expected to contain implementing regulations for the following aspects of the HITECH Act: 1) data breach enforcement and penalty levels; 2) data breach notification requirements; 3) application of the HIPAA Security Rule requirements directly to business associates and subcontractors; 4) use of genetic information by health plans; 5) use of patient health information (PHI) for marketing and fundraising. HHS has said the final Rule will contain “significant modifications” to the current HIPAA Privacy Rule. The final Rule will not address the proposed change to the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s standard on accounting for disclosures (i.e., access by whom, when and for what purpose), a controversial proposal that was complex, burdensome and potentially very costly.

We also have heard that a notice of proposed rulemaking would be out in March proposing a methodology by which people harmed by a HIPAA violation could share in any settlement or civil monetary penalty.

Stay tuned . . .

CMS Issues Interim Final Rule on EHR Certification and Incentives

Margaret Young Levi EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law

On December 7, 2012, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule with comment period to make revisions to the 2014 Edition Electronic Health Record (EHR) and revisions to the EHR Incentive Program.  Specifically, this rule will:

  • Replace the Data Element Catalog (DEC) standard and the Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category III standard adopted in the final rule published on September 4, 2012 with updated versions of those standards.
  • Revise the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs by adding an alternative measure for the Stage 2 meaningful use (MU) objective for hospitals to provide structured electronic laboratory results to ambulatory providers, correcting the regulation text for the measures associated with the objective for hospitals to provide patients the ability to view online, download, and transmit information about a hospital admission, and making the case number threshold exemption for clinical quality measure (CQM) reporting applicable for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) beginning with FY 2013.
  • Provide notice of CMS’s intention to issue technical corrections to the electronic specifications for CQMs released on October 25, 2012.

This interim final rule will be effective January 5, 2012.

Patient Engagement is Key in Stage 2 Meaningful Use

Margaret Young Levi Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use , , , , ,

Stage 2 of Meaningful Use under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act) requires providers who want the HITECH Act’s EHR incentive payments to ensure that at least some patients are engaged and are actually using their electronic health records (EHRs).  The Final Rule for the Stage 2 criteria call for eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) to provide a means for patients to access their health care information online.  EPs must also provide a means for patients to send secure messages electronically, however, patients have to actually use these services in order for providers to meet these new measures for making a Meaningful Use of certified EHRs.

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