Can you believe it is almost the end of 2016? Hopefully you have completed the steps needed to meet the requirements of Meaningful Use for this year. If you have providers that are new to your organization or new to Meaningful Use, there are some additional steps you will need to take.
If a provider is new to the Meaningful … Read the rest
Well, we are almost to the end of 2016. As you know, CMS has approved a 90-day reporting period for MU for 2016. Just to make sure you have everything taken care of, here is a list of tasks needed for successful completion of MU for 2016 –
1. Choose a continuous 90-day reporting period for 2016 (see more … Read the rest
If you missed our 2016 MU End of Year Review webinar on 12/8, here is the link to the recording and presentation slides.
The following topics were covered in this webinar –
If you haven’t registered yet, please Register Now for a webinar on Thursday, December 8, 1-2 pm MST for a review of all 2016 Meaningful Use tasks.
We will review the following topics in this webinar –
As you know, CMS has approved a 90-day reporting period for 2016. You can use any continuous 90 days in the 2016 calendar year for 2016. Please keep the following in mind –
Some of the “yes/no” MU objectives need to happen during or before the end of your reporting period.
As you have probably heard, starting in 2017 the Medicare EHR Incentive Program (Meaningful Use) will become part of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) under the MACRA law. The Medicaid EHR Incentive Program will remain as is, and will be a separate program.
There are a lot of questions out there about the Quality Payment Program. HTS will be … Read the rest
Hey all you meaningful users! As you all know, security risk assessments are a requirement for meeting meaningful use. However, the requirement for them and their importance is greater than just the MU program. Below is information from Susan Clarke, our Health Care Information Security and Privacy Practitioner:
“2016 is the biggest HIPAA enforcement Year for the Office for Civil … Read the rest
CMS has approved a 90-day EHR reporting period in 2016 and for 2017 for all returning eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals (EHs) and critical hospitals (CAHs) that have previously demonstrated meaningful use in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, as part of the Hospital Outpatient Perspective Payment System (OPPS). See all rule changes included in OPPS changes (MU changes … Read the rest
This post is applicable to Montana eligible hospitals only. The Montana State Level Registry (SLR) deadline for eligible hospitals attesting to the Medicaid MU program for 2015 is October 31, 2016.
If you need any assistance or are experiencing any technical issues with your Montana Medicaid 2015 meaningful use attestation, you can contact the MT SLR Helpdesk … Read the rest
Eligible providers who practice in multiple locations must take some additional steps in order to successfully participate in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive programs (meaningful use).
The meaningful use program is measured/tracked at the provider level and not the practice level. So if a provider practices in more than one location (with a certified EHR), they must combine the meaningful … Read the rest
Hey, just a quick reminder that you should begin registering your new providers in preparation for MU attestation. Whether your providers are new to meaningful use (EHR Incentive Program) or just new to your clinic, there is some work you will need to do in order to attest them this year.
Providers New to Your Clinic (but not to MU)
If you have new … Read the rest
We are coming down to the last 90 days of 2016 and I’m sure like me, you are waiting to hear if CMS will approve a 90 day reporting period for 2016. Hopefully we will hear from CMS on that within the next few weeks. Until we do, the most important thing you could do, regardless of if there will be a 90 day … Read the rest
Hey everyone, this is just a friendly reminder that a security risk assessment is required as part of meaningful use (MU) for EVERY reporting year. Below is text regarding this requirement from the CMS Security Risk Analysis Tip Sheet.
“Conducting a security risk analysis (SRA) is required when certified EHR technology is adopted in the first reporting year. In … Read the rest
This information is for EPs and EHs participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program (meaningful use) only.
If 2016 is the first year you are participating in the Medicare meaningful use program, you will only need to report data for a 90-day period. However, if you want to avoid Medicare payment adjustments for CY2017, you will need to attest to … Read the rest
This post is information for Montana hospitals only. We received word that the Montana Medicaid State Level Registry (SLR) is now open for eligible hospitals to submit their 2015 Medicaid meaningful use attestations. The MT SLR will be accepting 2015 EH meaningful use attestations thru October 31, 2016.
If you need any assistance or are experiencing any … Read the rest
Because of the great response we have received on our MU blog, we have created a PQRS blog, where we will share information on the CMS PQRS (Physicians Quality Reporting System) program. This blog will help clarify PQRS eligibility and requirements, the value-based modifier program as well as the quality and cost measure information contained in the confidential quality and resource … Read the rest
We are almost through the 3rd quarter of the 2016 reporting year. Hopefully you are tracking your performance on the MU requirements (see blog posted 7/16 for a complete list of tasks for MU).
In this blog, we are committed to providing you the steps needed to get you through the meaningful use program. Because we are reaching a large … Read the rest
In an effort to help improve the effectiveness of our education and outreach, we have now added the ability for our blog readers to add to the conversation by adding their comments directly to each blog post.
The new commenting functionality offers you the ability to add your input, ask questions and provide feedback on the blog topics. It will … Read the rest
We just heard that Montana DPHHS will be having a webinar to discuss the MT CPC+ program. Below is the information they provided.
Montana was selected to be one of only 14 locations across the country to join the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) model. CPC+, the largest-ever initiative of its kind, is a 5-year, multi-payer initiative to invest in high-quality primary care.
Through CPC+, Montana Medicaid, BlueCross BlueShield of Montana, PacificSource Health Plans and Medicare will increase resources for primary care and work … Read the rest
To offer greater flexibility in the meaningful use of EHRs, CMS has proposed a 90-day EHR reporting period in 2016 for all eligible providers, eligible hospitals, and CAHs. The proposed rule would change the reporting period from a full calendar year to any continuous 90-day period between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016.
This proposed change is … Read the rest
You may want to run your current year to date MU reports and check on this measure. 50% of patients seen during the reporting period must have access to their info via your portal. Your performance on this measure should be close to or over this 50% mark by now, if you are not, you’ll want to review the patient access … Read the rest
Hey everyone, there seems to be some confusion about what the requirements are for electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) reporting and how it relates to meaningful use. This post will hopefully give you the info you need and/or point you in the right direction.
In summary, the definition of electronic CQM (eCQM) reporting is providing clinical quality measure data in Category 1 … Read the rest
We received word from the Montana Medicaid State Level Registry that they are extending the attestation deadline for eligible providers to 10:00 p.m. Friday, August 5th. Some providers are experiencing system issues with CMS and/or Montana Medicaid that preclude the state registration and attestation process.
If you are experiencing a technical issue with your Montana Medicaid meaningful use … Read the rest
One sure fire way to fail a meaningful use audit is to not have the documentation to support your MU performance. Don’t let this happen to you. Take a look at the CMS Audit tip sheet (which was updated for this year) which gives you a good list of how to document both the threshold measures (the ones that you attest with … Read the rest
Many states are no longer accepting Medicaid attestations for the 2015 reporting year, however some states are. Following are the state level registry (SLR) eligible provider deadlines for Medicaid MU attestations for the states in our region:
Alaska EP – SLR closed for 2015 attestations
Hawaii EP – SLR deadline is 7/31/16 for 2015 attestations
Montana EP – SLR deadline … Read the rest
TGIF everyone! One last word about meaningful use this week (I promise). Below is a list of the tasks we recommend you perform to complete MU for this year. It might be helpful for you to use it as a checklist as you work your way through the process.
2016 MU Check List
For Modified Stage 2 of Meaningful Use, EPs must report/take exclusions to 2 out of 3 public health measures, EHs must do 3 out of 4. If you are not currently reporting data to the required number of registries, and are not eligible for the exclusions, you must be actively engaged with the required number of registries. … Read the rest
Thank you to all who attended today’s MU webinar – an Overview of the 2016 Meaningful Use Requirements. Materials are now available on our website.
Leave a reply, ask a question or share information using the “Leave a Reply” section below, or email Patty Kosednar directly with your questions or comments.
Subscribe … Read the rest
What a beautiful summer! I hope you are all enjoying some fun in the sun. Speaking of fun, let’s talk about what to do if you have providers practicing in more than one location. The MU program is measured at the provider level, not the practice level, so if a provider practices in more than one location with a certified … Read the rest
As you know, for a provider to be eligible for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, they must have over 30% Medicaid patient encounters, and a hospital is 10%. Your provider’s and organization’s patient volumes change year to year, so rerun your Medicaid reports to identify any new providers who can attest to the Medicaid EHR program, or to verify existing … Read the rest
Ok the barbeques are over, and now it’s time to get back to work. I can think of nothing more fun that doing a little meaningful use review. The year is half over. If you’ve barely scratched the surface of MU for this year, read through the old blogs to catch you up.
For your midyear review, first … Read the rest
Many organizations are experiencing problems meeting this measure (used to be called the “summary of care” or “care transition” measure). If you have not looked at your MU reports recently, you’ll want to. You might be tempted to ignore MU until later this year; however some organizations have had to spend a lot of time working with … Read the rest
For providers and hospitals that still need to attest to 2015 MU for the Medicaid program, following is the state level registry (SLR) entry and deadline info:
Everyone is talking about workflows because they are a key factor in improving the use of your EHR! How data is being entered into your system affects the downstream functionality and quality reporting from your system. Entering data into the correct fields in your EHR ensures you will get the credit it for it on your MU … Read the rest
We are about halfway through the year, and half way through your meaningful use reporting period for 2016. Following are the items you should either have completed or be working on for providers and hospitals (seriously, do yourself a favor and get on this):
For the 2016 MU reporting year, you will need to send one eSecure message to at least one patient seen during the reporting period for each of your providers. You will want to perform this task soon, to verify that you have all the functionality in place that you need, and that it is tracking correctly on your … Read the rest
On April 27th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a proposed rule to implement key provisions of the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) with a new approach to paying clinicians for the value and quality of care they provide.
MACRA is the law. The components of MACRA that will interest you are called the … Read the rest
You may want to review your Medicare payments for adjustment codes from CMS for the Medicare Part B charges to determine if your organization is affected.
We recommend reading CMS How Do I Avoid the 2016 Medicare Quality Reporting Payment Adjustments? You will learn about the 2016 negative or downward payment adjustments for Physician … Read the rest
