No Further Extensions for ICD-10 and MU Stage 2

February 28, 2014April 7, 2014 Margaret Young Levi EHR Certification Standards, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Incentives, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Certified Electronic Health Record, Certified Electronic Health Record Technology, CMS, EHR, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIMSS14, ICD-10, Marilyn Tavenner, Medicare EHR Incentive Programs, Medicare EHR Incentives, MU, Privacy & Security, Stage 2, Stage 2 Meaningful Use, Tavenner

Update: On April 1, 2014, President Obama signed into law the “Doc Fix” bill, Public Law 113-93, which extends the deadline for ICD-10 for an additional year. Section 212 of this law prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from adopting ICD-10 code sets prior to October 1, 2015.

Everyone is a-twitter (pun intended) about the announcement on Thursday, February 27, 2014, from Marilyn Tavenner, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), that the deadline for adoption of ICD-10 will not be extended. Tavenner was the keynote speaker at the HIMSS14 conference, and numerous tweets from HIMSS attendees highlighted her assertion that CMS will stand firm on the October 1, 2014 deadline. All entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) must be prepared to use ICD-10 codes on transactions by this date.

Tavenner also affirmed that the deadlines for Stage 2 Meaningful Use (MU) will not be extended. Providers who are not meaningful users of Certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) Technology under the Medicare EHR Incentive Programs will face a penalty, in the form of Medicare payment adjustments. These payment adjustments will be applied beginning on January 1, 2015. Continue reading →

CMS Extends Eligible Professional MU Attestation Deadline until March 31, 2014

February 10, 2014March 12, 2014 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Incentives, Meaningful Use Eligible Hospital Meaningful Use Attestation Retroactive Submission, Eligible Professional Meaningful Use Attestation Extension

On Friday, February 7, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced an extension until 11:59 pm on March 31, 2014 for Eligible Professionals to submit their 2013 EHR Meaningful Use (MU) attestation. In addition, Eligible Hospitals that had trouble submitting their 2013 MU attestation may be able to retroactively submit their attestation to avoid the 2015 payment adjustment but must contact CMS by March 15, 2014 at 11:59 pm to do so. Note that only the attestation deadline is being moved. The requirement to meet MU by September 30, 2013 for Eligible Hospitals and by December 31, 2013 for Eligible Professionals in order to avoid the 2015 payment adjustment is not affected.

(We would provide a link to this CMS announcement but it currently is not readily available on the CMS EHR Incentive Program website and, in fact, CMS has not yet updated the EP deadline on its home page for the Program. When and if additional details become available on the CMS webpage, we’ll post it here!)

HHS Amends CLIA to Broaden the Patient’s Access Rights to Lab Test Results

February 5, 2014March 12, 2014 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Federal Law Resources, Health care reform, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use CLIA lab amendment, eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, linkedin, Meaningful Use, Patient Access to Lab Tests, Uploading Lab Test Results to Patient Portals

by Kathie McDonald-McClure and Elizabeth O’Keeffe

As we have previously reported on the Wyatt HITECH Law blog on September 14, 2013 and September 23, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has had in the works, for over two years now, revisions to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act of 1988 (CLIA) regulations concerning whether a lab may release test results directly to patients. On February 3, 2013, HHS announced the release of a Final Rule (Final Rule) amending the CLIA regulations to allow laboratories to give a patient, or a person designated by the patient, his or her “personal representative”, access to the patient’s completed test reports upon the patient’s or patient’s personal representative’s request. The Final Rule was issued jointly by three agencies within HHS: the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which is generally responsible for laboratory regulation under CLIA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which provides scientific and technical advice to CMS related to CLIA, and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which is responsible for enforcing the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Continue reading →

EHR Donation Safe Harbors Extended to 2021

January 29, 2014March 12, 2014 Roz Cordini Fraud and Abuse, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use EHR Donation Safe Harbors

by Margaret Young Levi and Roz Cordini

Amidst concerns that physicians and other providers are slow to adopt electronic health record (EHR) systems and be “meaningful users” of health information technology, just before the New Year, the federal government extended two programs that permit hospitals and other health care providers as well as health plans to subsidize physician offices’ adoption of EHRs without violating the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law prohibition on inducements for referrals of federal health care program business. These programs were not simply extended though. This article addresses certain modifications to the programs of which providers should be aware. Continue reading →

Health Care Providers Need Not Meet Meaningful Use This Year to Remain Eligible for EHR Incentive Payments Next Year!

January 28, 2014March 12, 2014 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health care reform, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Incentives, Meaningful Use CMS EHR Meaningful Use Program, CMS Meaningful Use FAQs, EHR Incentive Program Payment Qualifications, HITECH Act

The Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program was implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Clinical and Economic Health Act of 2009 (HITECH). This Program provides incentive payments to Eligible Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals and Eligible Providers (collectively, “eligible providers”) who make a Meaningful Use (MU) of certified EHRs. Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) No. 9920 issued in November 2013 by CMS about the EHR Incentive Program deals with whether providers must participate in the Program every year in order to stay eligible for the incentives. FAQ 9920 clarifies that eligible providers do not have to meet MU in the prior year to be eligible for EHR incentives the following year. Continue reading →