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CMS MEDICARE AND MEDICAID EHR INCENTIVE PROGRAMS: STAGE 2 FINAL RULE On August 23, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a final rule to govern Stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs. The rule specifies the Stage 2 criteria that eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must meet in order to continue to participate in the EHR Incentive Programs. Rule Provisions Through the Stage 2 requirements of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, CMS seeks to expand the meaningful use of certified EHR technology. Certified EHR technology used in a meaningful way is one piece of a broader health information technology infrastructure needed to reform the health care system and improve health care quality, efficiency, and patient safety. Highlights of the rule’s provisions follow.
Stage 2 Timing In the Stage 1 meaningful use regulations, CMS established an original timeline that would have required Medicare providers who first demonstrated meaningful use in 2011 to meet the Stage 2 criteria in 2013. The Stage 2 rule gives providers more time to meet Stage 2 criteria. A provider that attested to Stage 1 of meaningful use in 2011 would attest to Stage 2 in 2014, instead of in 2013. Therefore, providers are not required to meet Stage 2 meaningful use before 2014. The table below illustrates the progression of meaningful use stages from the first year a Medicare provider begins participation in the program.
For 2014 only, providers that are beyond the first year of demonstrating meaningful use will have a 3-month quarter reporting period to allow an additional up to 9 months to upgrade certified EHR technology to the 2014 edition.Meaningful Use (MU) ObjectivesNearly all of the Stage 1 core and menu objectives that were proposed are being finalized for Stage 2. The test of “exchange of key clinical information” core objective from Stage 1 is eliminated in favor of a more robust “transitions of care” core objective in Stage 2; and the “Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information” objective is also eliminated because it was replaced by the “electronic/online access” core objective.
The final rule adds “outpatient lab reporting” to the menu for hospitals and “recording clinical notes” as a menu objective for both EPs and hospitals. There will be 20 measures for EPs (17 core and 3 of 6 menu) and 19 measures for eligible hospitals and CAHs (16 core and 3 of 6 menu).
The final rule reduces some thresholds for achieving certain measures and modifies criteria for exclusions to respond to difficulties commenters identified in implementing certain objectives in certain situations. For example, for some objectives CMS has added exclusions based on broadband availability that allow providers in rural or underserved areas to achieve meaningful use with fewer hurdles.___
Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs)Measure Sets and Reporting
The rule finalized that:
In addition, all providers must select CQMs from at least 3 of the 6 key health care policy domains from the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Quality Strategy:
Data Submission The rule finalizes that, beginning in 2014, all Medicare providers that are beyond the first year of demonstrating meaningful use must electronically report their CQM data to CMS. (Medicaid EPs and hospitals that are eligible only for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program will report their CQM data to their state.)
EPs can electronically report CQMs either individually or as a group using the following methods:
Eligible hospitals and CAHs will electronically report their CQMs through the EHR Reporting Pilot infrastructure for hospitals, which aligns with the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting program or through electronic submission of aggregate data through a CMS Portal.
Medicare Payment Adjustments Medicare payment adjustments are required by statute to take effect in 2015 (fiscal year for eligible hospitals/calendar year for EPs). The rule finalized a process in which payment adjustment will be determined by an EHR reporting period prior to the payment adjustment year 2015. Any Medicare EP or hospital that demonstrates meaningful use in 2013 will avoid payment adjustment in 2015. Also, a Medicare provider that first demonstrates meaningful use in 2014 will avoid the penalty if they successfully register and attest to meaningful use by July 1, 2014 (eligible hospitals) or October 1, 2014 (EPs). Meaningful use attestations to State Medicaid Agencies by EPs who are eligible for either Medicare or Medicaid but opted for Medicaid, will be accepted to avoid the Medicare penalty. However, Medicaid EHR incentive payments for adopt, implement, or upgrade will not be considered having met meaningful use for those same providers (there is no payment adjustment for Medicaid payments to eligible professionals or hospitals). Hardship Exceptions CMS finalized four categories of exceptions for EPs: Infrastructure, New EPs, Unforeseen Circumstance, and By Specialist/Provider Type. These barriers are concentrated among three specialties: anesthesiology, radiology, and pathology. Infrastructure, Unforeseen Circumstances, and New CAHs/eligible hospitals are also exception categories for eligible hospitals and CAHs.
Medicaid Eligibility Expansion
Zero-Pay Claims Patient volume requirements continue to be cited as a barrier to more providers participating in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. The rule expands the definition of what constitutes a Medicaid patient encounter, which is a required eligibility threshold.
Children’s Hospitals Under Medicaid, approximately 12 additional children’s hospitals have been made eligible to participate in the EHR Incentive Program. Previously, they were unable to participate, despite meeting all other eligibility criteria, because they do not have a CMS certification number since they do not bill Medicare.
A press release on the final rule may be viewed at http://www.hhs.gov/news and http://www.cms.gov/apps/media/press_releases.asp.
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