Modifications to
Meaningful Use for 2015 through 2017: Realigning the EHR Incentive Programs to
support health information exchange and quality improvement
On April 10, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a
new proposed rule for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR)
Incentive Programs to align Stage 1 and Stage 2 objectives and measures with
the long-term proposals for Stage 3, to build progress toward program
milestones, to reduce complexity, and to simplify providers’ reporting. These
modifications would allow providers to focus more closely on the advanced use
of certified EHR technology to support health information exchange and quality
improvement.
Better Care, Smarter Spending and Healthier People
The proposed rule is just one part of a larger effort across HHS to deliver
better care, spend health dollars more wisely, and have healthier people and
communities by working in three core areas: improving the way providers are
paid, improving the way care is delivered, and improving the way information is
shared to support transparency for consumers, health care providers, and
researchers and to strengthen decision-making.
Vision for the Future
The proposed rule issued today is a critical step forward in helping to support
the long-term goals of delivery system reform; especially those goals of a
nationwide interoperable learning health system and patient-centered care. CMS is
also simplifying the structure and reducing the reporting requirements for
providers participating in the program by removing measures which have become
duplicative, redundant, and reached wide-spread adoption (i.e., are “topped
out”). This will allow providers to refocus on the advanced use objectives and
measures. These advanced measures are at the core of health IT supported health
care which drives toward improving the way electronic health information is
shared among providers and with their patients, enhancing the ability to
measure quality and set improvement goals, and ultimately improving the way
health care is delivered and experienced.
Simplifying and Streamlining
The proposed rule would streamline reporting requirements. To accomplish these
goals, the NPRM proposes:
• Reducing the overall number of objectives to
focus on advanced use of EHRs;
• Removing measures that have become redundant,
duplicative or have reached wide-spread adoption;
• Realigning the reporting period beginning in
2015, so hospitals would participate on the calendar year instead of the fiscal
year; and
• Allowing a 90 day reporting period in 2015 to
accommodate the implementation of these proposed changes in 2015.
Supporting Interoperability and the Adoption of Electronic Health Records
The EHR Incentive Programs support the adoption and meaningful use of certified
EHR technology to allow providers and patients to exchange and access health
information electronically and support interoperability broadly. The program
supports interoperability by requiring the capture of data in structured
formats as well as the exchange of data in standardized form as well as the
sharing of this data electronically with other providers and with patients.
The proposed rule would reduce required reporting, allowing providers to focus
on objectives which support advanced use of EHR technology and quality
improvement, including health information exchange.
Improving Outcomes for Patients
The rule would support improved outcomes and measurement of those outcomes. By
proposing to simplify the reporting requirements, the proposed rule would allow
providers to focus on objectives that support advanced use of EHR technology,
including quality measurement and quality improvement. The rule supports providers
leveraging their resources and health IT to coordinate care for patients, to
provide patients with access to their health information, and to support data
collection in a format that can be shared across multiple health care
organizations.
Program Registration and Participation Milestones
As of March 1, 2015, more than 525,000 providers have registered to participate
in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. In addition, more than
438, 000 eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and CAHs have received an
EHR incentive payment. As of the end of 2014, 95% of eligible hospitals and
CAHs, and more than 62% of eligible professionals have successfully
demonstrated meaningful use of certified EHR technology.
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