An Eligible Professional’s Soliloquy

How Soon Can I Attest?

To attest, or not to attest: that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to attempt

The slings and arrows of MU Core and Menu measures,

Or to take arms against a sea of Clinical Quality Measures,

And by documenting end them? To purchase an EHR: to use paper;

No more; and by an attestation to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand patient encounters

That we cannot read, ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d.

To use an EHR, to document;

To document: perchance to qualify: ay, there’s the rub;

For in that documentation of patient encounters what rewards may come

When we have attested off this Meaningful Use,

Must give us pause: there’s the respect

That makes going digital of so much for concern;

For who would bear the burden of when I meet the $24K

Threshold and maximize my incentive,

CMS[1] will, they will hold the payments until the proud EP meets the threshold,

The pangs of concerns over when to attest,

The answer, I need not delay,

And thus as soon as I have used the certified EHR for 90 days,

And meet the thresholds for each measure,

The attesting[2] of my numerators and denominators can begin.

Be all my incentives achieved.