Meaningful Use FAQS

MU attestation is the process of meeting the Meaningful Use requirements to qualify for the incentives. You will need to submit values for core measures, menu measures, and Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) as part of the attestation process.

 

Providers can view dashboards focused on tracking progress for meaningful use and continue to perform regular functions without the need for additional steps related to meaningful use. ezEMRx's in-built guidance further assists in finding out exactly which areas need to be addressed to ensure objectives are being met.

 

We recommend that practices store all relevant documentation for at least seven years.

 

Such documentation may include:

• Screenshots of the Meaningful Use measure index with numerators/denominators and printed copies of CQM Reports.

• Any documentation that was used to ensure compliance completed outside the EHR,

• All documentation to support applicable exclusions.

​

ezEMRx & Meaningful Use

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires eight overall objectives with one or multiple measures per objective instead of the core and menu measures currently in place. The following describes the overall objectives and expected Stage 3 attestation requirements for EPs. This is only a guideline, it is highly recommended for users are to review Merit Based Incentive Rule Resources before beginning to work with Stage 3 requirements.

​

EPs must attest to all measures in order to meet the following objectives.

​

Protected Patient Health Information

• Measure: EPs must attest "Yes" to conducting the security risk analysis upon moving to the new edition (Stage 3) of certified EHR Technology.

Electronic Prescribing

• Measure: 80% of all permissible prescriptions written by the EP are queried for a drug formulary and transmitted electronically using certified EHR Technology.

Clinical Decision Support

• Measure: Implement five clinical decision support interventions related to four or more CQMs at a relevant point in patient care for the entire EHR reporting period.

• Measure: The EP has enabled and implemented the functionality for drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks for the entire EHR reporting period.

Computerized Provider Order Entry

• Measure: 80% of medication orders created by the EP during the EHR reporting period.

• Measure: 60% of laboratory orders created by the EP during the EHR reporting period.

• Measure: 60% of diagnostic imaging orders created by the EP during the EHR reporting period.

Patient Electronic Access to Health Information

• Measure: 80% of all unique patients seen by the EP are provided access to view online, download, and transmit their health information within 24 hours of its availability to the provider OR patient is provided access to an ONC-certified API to provide patients access to their health information, within 24 hours of its availability to the provider.

• Measure: The EP must use certified EHR Technology to identify patient-specific educational resources and provide electronic access to those materials to 35% of unique patients seen during the EHR reporting period.

 

EPs must attest for all 3 measures of the following objectives, but would only be required to successfully meet the threshold for 2 of the 3 measures.

​

Coordination of Care through Patient Engagement

• Measure: 25% of all unique patients seen by the EP actively engage with the electronic health record made accessible by the provider. An EP may meet the measure by either: (i) patient view, downloads, or transmits to a 3rd party their health information; or, (ii) patient access their health information through the use of an ONC-certified API that can be used by third-party applications.

• Measure: 35% of all unique patients seen by the EP during the EHR reporting period, a secure message was sent using the electronic messaging function of certified EHR Technology to the patient, or in response to a secure message sent by the patient.

• Measure: Patient-generated health data or data from a non-clinical setting is incorporated into the certified EHR technology for 15% of all unique patients seen by the EP.

Health Information Exchange

• Measure: 50% of transitions of care and referrals, the EP that transitions or refers their patient to another setting of care or provider of care: (i) creates a summary of care record using certified EHR Technology; and (ii) electronically exchanges the summary of care record.

• Measure: 40% of transitions or referrals received and patient encounters in which the provider has never before encountered the patient, the EP incorporates into the patient’s EHR an electronic summary of care document from a source other than the EP’s EHR system.

• Measure: 80% of transitions or referrals received and patient encounters in which the EP has never before encountered the patient, the EP performs clinical reconciliation on the following three clinical information sets: Medication, Allergy and Current Problem list.

 

EPs must attest “Yes” to 3 of the 5 measures in the following objective. ezEMRx is integrated with registries. EPs must contact ezEMRx support to enable such connections to meet attestation goals.

​

Public Health and Clinical Data Registry Reporting

• Immunization Registry Reporting: The EP is in active engagement with a public health agency to submit immunization data, receive forecasts and histories from the public health immunization registry/immunization information systems.

• Syndromic Surveillance Reporting: The EP is in active engagement with a public health agency to submit syndromic surveillance data from a non-urgent care ambulatory setting.

• Case Reporting: The EP is in active engagement with a public health agency to submit case reporting of reportable conditions.

• Public Health Registry Reporting: The EP is in active engagement with a public health agency to submit data to public health registries. 

• Clinical Data Registry Reporting: The EP is in active engagement to submit data to a clinical data registry.

 

Medicare Attestation Resources

• CMS Hotline 888-734-6433

 

Keep the following handy while attesting:

• Tax Identification Number (TIN)

• National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) credentials (also PECOS login)

• CMS EHR Certification ID

• Reporting period start and end date

 

Medicaid Attestation Resources

Medicaid patient volume is required to complete the process through your state Medicaid program. The deadline for the Medicaid program differs by state, please follow the link to a Guidance document for State Contacts

 

Incentives and Penalties

Medicare EHR Incentive Program

Providers eligible for the Medicare Meaningful Use program who do not successfully demonstrate Meaningful Use will be penalized. This will start at 1% of Medicare Part B reimbursements and increasing each year to a maximum of 5%.

 

Medicaid EHR Incentive Program

Providers can earn incentive payments over the six years (through 2019) for participating in the incentive program for seeing Medicaid patients. It is important to note Providers eligible for Meaningful Use under the Medicaid program are not subject to payment penalties, unless also eligible under the Medicare program. Please consult with the state’s agency for information about payment schedules.

​

Reference: EHR Incentive Payment Timeline

Hardship exceptions? Refer to Payment Adjustments & Hardship Exceptions