CMS Proposes Changes to Meaningful Use Reporting Period


A reprieve could be on the way for the more than 200,000 healthcare providers who have been struggling to meet their electronic health reporting (EHR) requirements under the Meaningful Use Program.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has announced a proposed rule that would  allow clinicians, hospitals and critical access hospitals to use a 90-day electronic health record reporting deadline – thus eliminating the full-year reporting requirement for those with previous reporting experience.

CMS said it is proposing lowering the thresholds for achieving reporting objectives in response to industry feedback.

“We are proposing a 90-day Electronic Health Record (EHR) reporting period in 2016 for all eligible providers (EPs), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAH), as we believe it would continue to assist health care providers by increasing flexibility in the program. The EHR reporting period would be any continuous 90-day period between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016,†notes a CMS fact sheet.

Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, the federal government offers financial incentives to healthcare providers that have computerized their health records and can provide a “meaningful use†of how they are being shared. However, many providers have struggled to meet those requirements and have been petitioning CMS to make the change, noting that it has created an administrative burden and subsequently impacts their bottom line. Those who can’t comply face penalties in the form of a reduction to their Medicare payments.

All hospitals are required to be at Stage 3 of meaningful use by 2018. But the agency said hospitals that haven’t achieved meaningful use could instead demonstrate Stage 2 meaningful use by Oct. 1, 2017.

In addition to the 90-day rule change, CMS has also proposed a few other efforts to streamline the program. They are:

  • To eliminate the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) and Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) objectives and measures for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals attesting under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program and reduce the thresholds for a subset of the remaining objectives and measures in Modified Stage 2 for 2017 and Stage 3 for 2017 and 2018. These proposed changes would not apply to eligible hospitals and CAHs that attest under a state’s Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.
  • Allow certain eligible providers, who have not successfully demonstrated meaningful use in a prior year, intend to attest to meaningful use for an EHR reporting period in 2017, and intend to transition to MIPS and report on measures specified for the advancing care information performance category under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) as proposed in 2017, can apply for a significant hardship exception from the 2018 payment adjustment.
  • Change the policy for measure calculations such that, for all meaningful use measures, unless otherwise specified, actions included in the numerator must occur within the EHR reporting period if that period is a full calendar year, or if it is less than a full calendar year, within the calendar year in which the EHR reporting period occurs.

The proposals impact only providers, hospitals, and CAHS reporting to the federal Medicare EHR Incentive Program, and not to the state Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.

“We considered proposing the same changes for both Medicare and Medicaid, but based upon our concerns that states would incur additional cost and time burdens in having to update their technology and reporting systems within a short period of time, we are proposing these changes only for eligible hospitals and CAHs attesting under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program,†the agency wrote in its proposed rule.

However, CMS is requesting comments on the proposed change and whether they should apply for eligible hospitals and CAH’s attesting under a state’s Medicare EHR Incentive Program, as well as comments from state Medicaid agencies concerning its assumptions about the additional cost and time burden they would face in accommodating the changes.

CMS will accept comments on the proposed rule until Sept. 6.

The Health Law Offices of Anthony C. Vitale can assist you with issues relating to billing and reporting. Give us a call at 305 358-4500 or send an email to info@vitalehealthlaw.com

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