CHIME: New MU Final Rule 'All But Ensures Industry Struggles Will Continue'
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
CMS Promises That MU is Making Progress Fall on Deaf Ears.
The latest meaningful use (MU) Final Rule released by the CMS has raised concern from the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME), which represents hospital CIOs. The primary concern is that, while the new rule eases reporting for 2014, it mandates participants report the full year starting 2015.
CMS used public comments and feedback from stakeholders to come up with ways eligible providers can use 2011 Edition CEHRT – or a combination of 2011 and 2014 Edition CERHT – for an EHR reporting period in 2014 under either the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. All EPs will be required to use 2014 Edition CEHRT in 2015.
The rule also extends Stage 2 reporting through 2016 and starts Stage 3 in 2017 for providers who first attested to Stage 1 in 2011 or 2012.
These changes were not well received by CHIME. The organization’s President and CEO, Russell Branzell, expressed concern in a statement that the 2015 reporting period would not be shortened to 90 days, as allowed this year. “CHIME is deeply disappointed in the decision made by 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,” Branzell said in the statement.
The MU program has paid out almost $25 billion in incentives over its five years in operation, yet only $86 million in incentives have been issued so far in 2014 indicating a slowdown in participation in the later stages of MU. Through the end of June, slightly more than 100 EPs nationwide had attested to meeting Stage 2 requirements.
The CHIME statement read, “Roughly 50 percent of EHs and CAHs were scheduled to meet Stage 2 requirements this year and nearly 85 percent of EHs and CAHs will be required to meet Stage 2 requirements in 2015. Most hospitals who take advantage of new pathways made possible through this final rule will not be in a position to meet Stage 2 requirements beginning October 1, 2014. This means that penalties avoided in 2014 will come in 2015, and millions of dollars will be lost due to misguided government timelines.”
Further, Branzell wrote, “Nearly every stakeholder group echoed recommendations made by CHIME to give providers the option of reporting any three-month quarter EHR reporting period in 2015. This sensible recommendation, if taken, would have assuaged industry concerns over the pace and trajectory of rulemaking; it would have pushed providers to meet a higher bar, without pushing them off the cliff; and it would have ensured the long-term vitality of the program itself. Now, the very future of Meaningful Use is in question.”
Amy Maneker, MD, CMIO at Akron Children's Hospital, said she wholeheartedly agrees with the CHIME statement. "Frankly, I couldn't have said it better myself," she told Medical Practice Insider.