EHR Attestation Deadline Extended
Qualifying healthcare providers have an extra month to attest to MU for EHR Incentive Program
The new deadline for physicians and qualifying providers to attest to MU to take part in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program is now March 31st at 11:59 p.m. Previously, the 2013 PQRS-Medicare Incentive Pilot Program required eligible professionals to submit their data between January 1, 2014 and February 28, 2014 at the latest.
EHR Intelligence reports, "CMS is offering assistance to eligible hospitals that may have experienced difficulty attesting to submit their attestation retroactively and avoid the 2015 payment adjustment." The article also goes on to explain, "This extension does not impact the deadlines for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program or any other CMS program, including electronic submission for the Physician Quality Reporting System EHR Incentive Program Pilot."
As explained by FierceHealthIT, a CMS spokesperson told them directly in an email, "We are seeing extraordinary interest from healthcare providers participating in the Electronic Health Records Incentive Programs, and to help ensure all eligible healthcare providers are able to receive their initial payments, we are extending the attestation deadline for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program by one month for professionals. Additionally, hospitals that may have missed their reporting deadline have an opportunity to submit their attestation retroactively."
A spokesperson for CHIME said in a press release, "There is a perfect storm brewing, with the ICD-10 compliance coming into view, with HIPPA compliance demanding renewed attention and with all the activities associated with the Affordable Care Act converging in 2014, providers are nearing a breaking point. Flexibility of the kind announced today is beneficial for Stage 3, but Stage-2 start-date flexibility is needed to ensure long-term success"
As described by Medscape, "Physicians will get an extra month to tell Medicare that they achieved meaningful use of an electronic health record (EHR) system last year, helping them qualify for an incentive payment and avoid a 1 percent penalty in 2015 in the process." The article also explains, "Physicians and other eligible providers can earn a maximum of $44,000 in Medicare incentive payments over 5 consecutive years for satisfying meaningful use requirements in each of those years."
Want to publish your opinion?