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Optometrists and other health care practitioners can now report compliance with the Medicare Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program’s “meaningful use” standards, opening the door to incentive payments.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 18 launched its new Web-based Medicare EHR Incentive Program Attestation System (http://tinyurl.com/3bfu5w).

Practitioners who have installed EHR systems that have been certified for use in the incentive program and use the new online reporting system to document compliance with the program’s EHR utilization objectives could see payments in approximately 30 days, according to the CMS.

Practitioners can earn a payment of up to $18,000 for 2011 and up to a total of $44,000 ($48,000 in federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas) over five years.

Before entering the new attestation system to report compliance with Medicare EHR utilization objectives, practitioners must register for the incentive program and make sure their registration includes the certification number for their EHR system, the CMS notes.

Practitioners must also have a National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NEPPS) user identification number and password. The NEPPS ID and password will be used to log onto the Medicare attestation system.

Practitioners can access both the registration and attestation systems using the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Registration and Attestation System Web page (https://ehrincentives.cms.gov). Both EHR incentive program registration and attestation involve providing required information by completing a series of screens on the Web site.

All practitioners entering the incentive program must document compliance with the program’s Stage 1 meaningful use objectives over a 90-day reporting period.

Attestation assistance

In coming years, practitioners will be required to document compliance with the meaningful use standards by downloading data directly from their EHR systems to the CMS.

However, the CMS could not implement the required technology in time for the start of the EHR incentive program.

As a result, EPs this year will simply be required to report – or “attest” – compliance with the meaningful use objectives.

To assist practitioners with the attestation process, the CMS has introduced a number of new products and services including: 

• The CMS EHR Web site Attestation Page (http://tinyurl.com/3bfu5wa) where participants in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program can find important information on attestation.
• The Meaningful Use Attestation Calculator that allows practitioners to check whether they have met meaningful use guidelines before they attest in the system (see related article). The calculator prints a copy of each practitioner’s specific measure summary.
• The Eligible Professional User Guide that provides step-by-step guidance for practitioners on navigating the attestation system.

Over the coming weeks, the CMS also plans to introduce:

• Attestation worksheets – By completing the form with the indicated meaningful use measure values, health care practitioners can use the worksheets to produce a quick-reference tool that can be used while attesting, according to the CMS, and
• Attestation video Webinars – the Webinars will present the Eligible Professional User Guide in video form, showing how a health care practitioner can complete the attestation process.

For additional information visit the AOA Web site’s EHR page (www.aoa.org/EHR) or the CMS EHR Incentive Programs Web site (http://tinyurl.com/2g25y5l).

5 steps to compliance

The Medicare EHR Incentive Program offers optometrists and other health care practitioners the opportunity to earn incentive payments through a five-step process, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS):

• Determine eligibility for the EHR Incentive program.  Practitioners should first view eligibility guidelines and select the federal EHR incentive program in which they wish to participate, using the CMS Web site’s EHR Incentive Programs Eligibility page (http://tinyurl.com/6jwlr7q).
• Register. Practitioners can then register on Medicare EHR Incentive Program Web site Registration page (http://tinyurl.com/EHRRegistration).
• Use certified EHR technology. Health care practitioners must make sure their EHR technology has been certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Visit the ONC’s Certified EHR Technology page (http://onc-chpl.force.com/ehrcert) for details.
• Be a “meaningful user.” Practitioners have to demonstrate “meaningful use” for a consecutive 90-day period during their first year of participation in the incentive program (and for a full year during each subsequent year) to receive EHR incentive payments. Visit the CMS Meaningful Use Web page (http://tinyurl.com/CMSMUpage) to learn about meaningful use objectives and measures.
• Attest for incentive payments. To receive an EHR incentive payment, practitioners must attest, through Medicare’s secure Web site (http://tinyurl.com/3bfu5wa), that they have demonstrated meaningful use with certified EHR technology.

Meaningful use attestation calculator

The CMS introduced a new online Meaningful Use Attestation Calculator to help optometrists and other health care practitioners determine if they are ready to successfully complete the attestation process for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. The Meaningful Use Attestation Calculator effectively allows practitioners to find out if they are compliant with required core and menu meaningful use objectives, and associated measures, before logging onto the Medicare EHR Attestation System. As with the attestation system, health care practitioners can use the Meaningful Use Attestation Calculator by entering data displayed by their certified EHR systems.

After a practitioner enters core and menu meaningful use data, the calculator will indicate whether the practitioner has met the necessary criteria for the objectives. It will indicate in red those measures for which the input values did not meet the required thresholds and will mark them as “failed.” The user can then print a list of the measures that have been entered, with notations indicating whether they have been “passed” or “failed” by the calculator. The online calculator can be used only for core and menu measures. It will not assess compliance with standards for clinical quality measures (CQMs).

The Meaningful Use Attestation Calculator is not linked to the actual EHR Attestation System, CMS officials emphasize.

After using the online calculator to assess their readiness, practitioners must re-enter meaningful use data in the attestation system in order to formally apply for incentive payments. In addition to the new online calculator, the CMS has released Stage 1 Meaningful Use Specification Sheets to help health care practitioners better understand the EHR objectives. Health care practitioners can access the calculator, specification sheets and other information on the Medicare EHR Incentive Program by visiting www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms. Practitioners can access the calculator directly at www.cms.gov/apps/ehr.