Sep 19
2014
Think Meaningful Use in 2014 Couldn’t Get Any More Complicated? Think Again
Guest post by Amy Leopard, partner, and Kevin Alonso, associate, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.
On Sept. 4, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a final rule that, effective Oct. 1, 2014, implements changes to the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program in light of industry-wide difficulties in transitioning to EHR technology certified to the 2014 Edition EHR certification criteria (“2014 Edition CEHRT”) during calendar year 2014 for eligible professionals and fiscal year 2014 for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals. CMS makes no changes to the existing 2014 reporting periods or the requirement in future reporting periods to report for a full year.[1] This final rule also extends Stage 2 for an additional year for those providers first demonstrating meaningful use in 2011 or 2012. Instead of starting Stage 3 in 2016, those providers will now start Stage 3 in 2017. The timeframe for Stage 3 implementation by providers that first demonstrated meaningful use after 2012 is unchanged by this final rule.
Prior to these changes, providers were required to use 2014 Edition CEHRT to demonstrate either Stage 1 or Stage 2 meaningful use in 2014. The shortened 2014 attestation periods implemented in the 2012 final rule were aimed at helping providers make the transition from 2011 Edition CEHRT to 2014 Edition CEHRT, but delays affecting the availability of, and the ability of providers to implement, 2014 Edition CEHRT meant that many providers still might be unable to demonstrate meaningful use, despite their best efforts.
To provide some additional flexibility, CMS will now provide three alternatives routes to demonstrate meaningful use in 2014 for providers facing such difficulties: (1) using 2011 Edition CEHRT only, (2) using a combination of 2011 and 2014 Edition CEHRT, or (3) using 2014 Edition CEHRT for Stage 1 objectives and measures in 2014 for providers scheduled to begin Stage 2. These alternatives will also provide some flexibility in the objectives and measures that providers must meet to demonstrate meaningful use, as summarized in the chart below.[2]