CEHRT

Stages 1, 2, And Now 3, Meaningful Use Criteria

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

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) proposed Meaningful Use criteria to implement Stage 3 and allow eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (“CAHs”) to qualify for incentive payments (or avoid downward payment adjustments) under the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program implemented by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act of 2009. stethoscope, keyboardThen CMS made changes to Stage 1 and Stage 2 Meaningful Use criteria to better align with the proposed Stage 3 criteria just two weeks later.

On March 30, 2015, CMS published a long-awaited proposed rule which, if finalized, would implement Stage 3, making changes to the objectives and measures of meaningful use for providers effective in Continue reading →

CMS Issues EHR Meaningful Use Hardship Exceptions for Health Care Providers Subject to 2015 Medicare Reimbursement Reduction (Includes Automatic One-Year Reprieve for 2013 Meaningful Users)

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

EHR Meaningful Use Hardship ExemptionOn February 28, 2014, we posted an article about ICD-10 and Stage 2 Meaningful Use (MU) announcements by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at the 2014 HIMSS annual conference.  At that conference, while CMS refused to extend the deadlines for ICD-10 and Stage 2 MU, it promised to be more flexible about providing hardship exemptions on Stage 2 MU for providers and vendors truly struggling to meet the incentive program’s requirements.  CMS said that guidance would be forthcoming.  Yesterday, March 10, 2014, CMS issued such guidance.  The Guidance is directed solely at providers experiencing EHR vendor issues.  Importantly, the Guidance gives an automatic, one-year reprieve for certain providers who demonstrated MU for 2013. Continue reading →