After facing severe criticism from members of Congress, professional medical organizations and providers pushing to delay the final rules for Meaningful Use Stage 3. On Tuesday, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released the final rule for the Meaningful Use program with hopes to simplify requirements and add new flexibilities for providers.
CMS reviewed and considered more than 2,500 comments on the two proposed rules to create the final policies, with the opportunity for additional comment, for participation in the EHR Incentive Programs. The final rule adopts flexible reporting periods that are aligned with other programs to reduce burden, including moving from fiscal year to calendar year reporting for all providers beginning in 2015, and offering a 90-day reporting period in 2015 for all providers, for new participants in 2016 and 2017, and for any provider moving to Stage 3 in 2017.
“We have a shared goal of electronic health records helping physicians, clinicians, and hospitals to deliver better care, smarter spending, and healthier people. We eliminated unnecessary requirements, simplified and increased flexibility for those that remain, and focused on interoperability, information exchange, and patient engagement. By 2018, these rules move us beyond the staged approach of ‘meaningful use’ and focus on broader delivery system reform,” said Dr. Patrick Conway, M.D., M.Sc., CMS deputy administrator for innovation and quality and chief medical officer in a press statement. “Most importantly we are seeking additional public comments and plan for active engagement of stakeholders so we take time to get broad input on how to improve these programs over time.”
As part of the release, CMS announced a 60-day public comment period to gather additional feedback about the EHR Incentive Programs going forward, in particular with the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), which established the Merit-based Incentive Payment System and consolidates certain aspects of a number of quality measurement and federal incentive programs into one more efficient framework.
Key Themes of Meaningful Use Final Rule
The Meaningful Use final rule provisions addresses the following regulations:
– Give providers and state Medicaid agencies more time – 27 months, until January 1, 2018 – to comply with the new requirements and prepare for the next set of system improvements.
– Give developers more time to create the next advancements in technology that will be easier to use and more appropriate to new models of care and access to data by consumers.
– Support provider exchange of health information and a more useful interoperable infrastructure for information exchange between providers and with patients
– Give developers more time to create the next advancements in technology that will be easier to use and more appropriate to new models of care and access to data by consumers.
– Address health information blocking and interoperability between providers and with patients.
For the Meaningful Use Stage 2 program in 2015 through 2017, major provisions include:
– 10 objectives for eligible professionals including one public health reporting objective, down from 18 total objectives in prior stages.
– 9 objectives for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) including one public health reporting objective, down from 20 total objectives in prior stages.
– Clinical Quality Measures (CQM) reporting for both eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals/CAHs remains as previously finalized.
For Stage 3 Meaningful Use 2017 and subsequent years, major provisions include:
– 8 objectives for eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and CAHs: In Stage 3, more than 60 percent of the proposed measures require interoperability, up from 33 percent in Stage 2.
– Public health reporting with flexible options for measure selection.
– CQM reporting aligned with the CMS quality reporting programs.
– Finalize the use of application program interfaces (APIs) that enable the development of new functionalities to build bridges across systems and provide increased data access. This will help patients have unprecedented access to their own health records, empowering individuals to make key health decisions.
– The Stage 3 requirements are optional in 2017. Providers who choose to begin Stage 3 in 2017 will have a 90-day reporting period. All providers will be required to comply with Stage 3 requirements beginning in 2018 using EHR technology certified to the 2015 Edition. Objectives and measures for Stage 3 include increased thresholds, advanced use of health information exchange functionality, and an overall focus on continuous quality improvement.
For more information, access the 752 page pdf here.
