Meaningful Use

Final Rules for Stage 2 EHR Incentive Programs Released

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

First, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the long-awaited final rule to govern Stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs. The rule specifies the Stage 2 criteria that eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must meet in order to continue to participate in the EHR Incentive Programs.

  • Click here for the full text of CMS’s final rule.
  • Click here to see the fact sheet on CMS’s final rule.

Second,  the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) also announced a related final rule, which specifies the technical capabilities and related standards and implementation specifications that Certified EHR Technology will need to include to support the achievement of meaningful use by EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs under the EHR Incentive Programs.

  • Click here for the full text of the ONC rule.
  • Click here  to read a fact sheet on ONC’s standards and certification criteria final rule.

Stay tuned.  We will be posting more about these final rules in the days to come.

Get Ready for Audits on EHR Incentive Payments

Margaret Young Levi EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Federal Law Resources, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Privacy & Security , , , , ,

The promised audits have begun for providers receiving electronic health records (EHR) incentives available under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. 

In order to receive Medicare EHR incentive payments, providers must attest to CMS that they meet Meaningful Use (MU) criteria using certified EHR technology.  Any provider attesting to receive an EHR incentive payment for either the Medicare EHR Incentive Program or the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program potentially may be subject to an audit.  If an audit finds a provider is not eligible for an EHR incentive payment because it does not meet MU criteria, then the incentive payment will be recouped.   Here’s what providers need to know to prepare for an audit:

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New Guide for Privacy and Security of Health Information in EHRs

Margaret Young Levi Electronic Health Records, Federal Law Resources, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use, Privacy & Security , , , , , , ,

Lock and KeyThe Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) recently released a 47-page Guide to Privacy and Security of Health Information.  The Guide provides direction to providers on protecting patient privacy and securing their health information in an electronic health record (EHR) for purposes of complying with the Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. The Guide also addresses compliance with certain Meaningful Use (MU) standards that have been promulgated pursuant to the HITECH Act’s incentive program for adopting and implementing EHRs.

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CMS Releases Proposed Rule for Stage 2 Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records

Kathie McDonald-McClure EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus , , , , , , ,

On Thursday, February 23, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, released a 455-page Proposed Rule specifying the Stage 2 criteria that eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must meet in order to qualify for Medicare and/or Medicaid incentives related to electronic health records (EHRs).  The Proposed Rule also proposes to modify certain Stage 1 criteria, as well as criteria that apply regardless of Stage, as previously published in the Final Rule on July 28, 2010 in the Federal Register.  The proposed provisions related to Medicaid (calculations of patient volume and hospital eligibility) would take effect shortly after the finalization of the Proposed Rule and would not be subject to the proposed one-year delay for Stage 2 meaningful use of a certified EHR.  The Proposed Rule states that the changes to Stage 1 would take effect for 2013, but that most changes would be optional until 2014.  Last but not least, the Proposed Rule addresses the Medicare payment adjustments that will take place for EPs, eligible hospitals and CAHs who fail to demonstrate a meaningful use of certified EHRs by 2015 and proposed exceptions to such adjustments.

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Early Meaningful Users Promised Stage 2 Extension

Margaret Young Levi Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus , , , , , , ,

On November 30, 2011, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued a press release announcing proposed steps to encourage physicians and hospitals to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) this year and receive incentive payments made available under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act), which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). 

Under the HITECH Act, physicians and hospitals have the opportunity to earn financial incentives from Medicare and Medicaid if they demonstrate the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHRs in a series of three stages. Under the current rules, physicians and hospitals that adopt EHRs in 2011 and attest to meeting Stage 1 meaningful use standards by February 28, 2012 must meet Stage 2 standards in 2013. If they wait until 2012 to attest to Stage 1, providers could delay Stage 2 compliance until 2014. To encourage more providers to adopt EHRs in 2011, instead of waiting until 2012, HHS proposes to allow providers who qualify for Stage 1 meaningful use in 2011 an extension until 2014 to meet Stage 2 standards. HHS clarified that providers first attesting to meaningful use in 2011 qualify for both 2011 and 2012 incentive payments.

These proposed steps are consistent with June 2011 recommendations from the Health IT Policy Committee (HITPC).  As we reported this summer, HITPC advocated that providers who begin to attest to meaningful use in 2011 be provided an extra year “to phase in the stage 2 expectations (i.e., Stage 2 for those who attest in 2011 would begin in 2014).”  HHS listened!

HHS intends to publish this extension in the Stage 2 meaningful use Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in February 2012.

At the same time, HHS also released new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing increased adoption of EHRs by physicians.  The CDC report documented that physicians’ adoption of health information technology (IT) doubled in two years, and 52% of physicians intend to apply for meaningful use incentives, up from 41% in 2010.  Click here to access additional information about achieving meaningful use, including the CDC report.