Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE) sends out alert on Thursday, April 18, 2013, indicating that it will accept applications from 13 providers who are seeking financial assistance to qualify for the HITECH Act’s Meaningful Use incentive payments.
Meaningful Use
New EHR Exemptions Proposed
A new bill entitled the “Electronic Health Records Improvement Act” has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. Its stated purpose is to “amend certain requirements and penalties implemented under the Medicare and Medicaid programs by the HITECH Act of 2009, which would otherwise impede eligible professionals from adopting electronic health records to improve patient care.” Most notably, this bill proposes two new exemptions to the requirements to be a meaningful user of electronic health records (“EHRs”) that will be beneficial to solo physician practices and physicians nearing retirement:
- Eligible Professionals in Small Physician Practices. A physician who is a solo practitioner in 2015 would be exempt from the application of the downward payment adjustment for not demonstrating EHR meaningful use during the payment years 2015-2017. Implementing EHRs require significant investments in time for vendor selection, capital, and staff resources—and solo practitioners typically do not have the necessary resources to invest in EHRs. This exemption allows undercapitalized solo practitioners an additional three years to become a meaningful EHR user.
- Exception for Certain Physicians Near Retirement Age. A physician who will be eligible for Social Security by December 31, 2015 (or will be eligible during the 5-year period following that date) is also exempt from the application of the downward payment adjustment for not demonstrating EHR meaningful use during the payment years 2015-2017. This exemption will encourage physicians nearing retirement to continue practicing medicine for several more years instead of retiring early to avoid implementing an EHR. (Because this section of the Bill uses the terms “eligible professional” (in the text) and “physician” (in the title), there is some question as to whether this exception applies only to physicians nearing retirement or also applies to other types of eligible professionals, such as dentists, chiropractors, podiatrists, and optometrists. Hopefully, this confusion will be clarified if this Bill progresses into law.)
Here is a link to H.R. 1331. This Bill is currently in committee, and we will watch its progress closely.
Update (1/31/2015): Unfortunately, H.R. 1331 died in Committee.
February 28th Deadline for EPs To File Attestation for EHR Incentives and CQMs
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.
Patient Engagement is Key in Stage 2 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.
House Calls for Suspension of EHR Incentive Payments under HITECH Act
On Thursday, October 4, 2012, in a letter to Secretary Sebelius of the United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), the United States House GOP called on HHS to suspend incentive payments for the adoption and implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) otherwise authorized under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act). The GOP also asked HHS to delay the imposition of penalties on providers who choose not to use EHRs in their practice (such penalties that pursuant to the HITECH Act provisions are to take the form of reductions in Medicare reimbursements in 2015). Continue reading
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