CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) recently announced modifications to the meaningful use attestation requirements for 2014. Following significant lobbying from EHR vendors, eligible professionals (EPs), and hospitals, CMS issued a brief reprieve to meeting Stage 2 meaningful use in 2014 – for some lucky participants. Recognizing that EPs and hospitals may still be using 2011 certified EHR technology (CEHRT) or a mixture of 2011 and 2014 CEHRT, CMS created a chart of decision points meant to enable flexibility for EPs and hospitals alike. These options also accommodate EPs and hospitals that have upgraded to the 2014 CEHRT but are still unable to meet the Stage 2 requirements within the mandatory timetables.
However, this flexibility comes with a caveat: EPs and hospitals must explain that their failure to meet Stage 2 in 2014 as scheduled is because they could not “fully implement 2014 Edition CEHRT for the EHR reporting period in 2014 due to delays in 2014 Edition CEHRT availability.” So who is allowed to claim this exception? Though CMS does not provide an exhaustive list of examples, its published comments in the final rule provide some insights and helpful explanations.
Below are maps of decision points and examples of acceptable and unacceptable justifications for not meeting an EP’s scheduled meaningful use stage in 2014, whether it be the 2014 Stage 1 or Stage 2 objectives and measures. Any EPs or hospitals that attest for a different stage than what they were scheduled for must be prepared to defend this decision in an audit, understanding that each case will be evaluated individually; this defense should therefore be very well documented.
Michelle Holmes, consultant with ECG Management Consultants co-authored this post.
