Final Rule issued for 2014 EHR Incentive Program

CMS Final Rule

Providers offered ‘flexibility’

By Joy Rios, Managing Partner at Practice Transformation

Twitter: @askjoyrios

There should be laws against publishing important program updates late afternoon on the Friday before a three-day weekend, but to my dismay, there is no such thing.

On Friday, August 29 at 4 pm, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a press release of the final ruling for the modifications to the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program for 2014.

It made for some fascinating weekend reading. Despite 1139 comments received about the May proposal, CMS made no changes to the ruling.

The biggest takeaways from the document are:

  • Providers can attest using 2011 Edition certified EHR technology for 2014
  • All Eligible Providers will be required to use 2014 EHR Edition certified EHR technology for 2015
  • All Eligible Providers will be required to report a 365 day reporting period in 2015 (either fiscal or calendar year, for hospitals and professionals respectively)
  • Stage 3 of Meaningful Use is pushed back a year. Early adopters of Meaningful Use will not need to meet S3MU until 2017 at the earliest.

To help providers determine their attestation options for the year, CMS posted this CEHRT Decision Tool.

For example, the option for providers still using 2011 Edition certified EHR technology and scheduled to attest Stage 2 include:

Final Rule

Although CMS aims to offer more flexibility to providers and allow for more participation this year, some organizations were not pleased with the ruling.

Russell P. Branzell, President and CEO of CHIME issued a press release shortly after the HHS announcement stating that the group is “deeply disappointed in the decision made be CMS and ONC to require 365 days of EHR reporting in 2015. This single provision has severely muted the positive impacts of this final rule. Further, it has all but ensured that industry struggles will continue well beyond 2014.”

The group’s comment strongly urged CMS to extend the 90-day reporting period tied to a calendar year quarter to 2015.

Stay tuned, as public responses are sure to be abound after folks get settled back in after the holiday weekend.