On July 13, CMS issued the Medicare and Medicaid Programs Electronic Health Record Incentive Program Final Rules. These final rules were published in the Federal Register on July 28th.
On July 22nd, CMS hosted a conference call to explain the changes in the Final Rules as compared to the Proposed Rules. Some key changes include:
- Inclusion of Critical Access Hospitals in the definition of eligible hospital for Medicaid incentives.
- A revised definition of hospital based eligible professionals to exclude only those physicians that provide 90% or more of their services in either an inpatient or emergency department.
- Eligible Professionals and Eligible Hospitals may defer 5 optional “menu set” Meaningful Use reporting objectives.
- Reduction in measure thresholds for Meaningful Use reporting objectives.
To view the CMS slide presentation click here. ONC has also published a slide deck entitled “Supporting Meaningful Use” that provides helpful guidance. CMS has also launched an EHR Incentives website which has fact sheets, press releases, general information, and instructions on how to participate, also on the website will be the transcript of the CMS conference call.
In addition, CMS has published the Health Information Technology: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for EHR Technology. For more information on these Standards click here.
If you have questions regarding how these final rules will affect your practice please contact Elana Zana.
