Question FAQ #7735: If multiple eligible professionals or eligible hospitals contribute information to a shared portal or to a patient’s online personal health record (PHR), how is it counted for meaningful use when the patient accesses the information on the portal or PHR?
Updated Answer: Read the complete answer here.
For Eligible Professionals: “More than 5 percent of all unique patients seen by the eligible professional during the EHR reporting period (or their authorized representatives) view, download or transmit to a third party their health information.”
For Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals: “More than 5 percent of all unique patients (or their authorized representatives) who are discharged from the inpatient or emergency department (Place of Service 21 or 23) of an eligible hospital or CAH view, download or transmit to a third party their information during the EHR reporting period.”
Question FAQ #2903: How should EPs select menu objectives for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs?
Updated Answer: EPs participating in Stage 1 of the EHR Incentive Programs are required to report on a total of 5 meaningful use objectives from the menu set of 10. When selecting five objectives from the menu set, EPs must choose at least one option from the public health menu set. If an EP is able to meet the measure of one of the public health menu objectives but can be excluded from the other, the EP should select and report on the public health menu objective they are able to meet. If an EP can be excluded from both public health menu objectives, the EP should claim an exclusion from only one public health objective and report on four additional menu objectives from outside the public health menu set. Read the complete answer here.
Question FAQ #7817 : How can an EP that is new to a practice meet the patient volume/practice predominantly criteria to be eligible for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program?
Updated Answer: There are three ways an EP could meet the patient volume/practice predominantly criteria to potentially qualify for an incentive payment. For illustrative purposes, assume the EP joined the practice in 2013. Read the three ways here.
Question FAQ #2899: How and when will incentive payments for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs be made?
Updated Answer: For eligible professionals (EPs), incentive payments for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program will be made approximately eight to twelve weeks after an EP successfully attests that they have demonstrated meaningful use of certified EHR technology. However, EPs will not receive incentive payments within that timeframe if they have not yet met the threshold for allowed charges for covered professional services furnished by the EP during the year. Payments will be held until the EP meets the threshold in allowed charges for the calendar year ($24,000 in the EP’s first year) in order to maximize the amount of the EHR incentive payment they receive. Medicare EHR incentive payments are based on 75% of the estimated allowed charges for covered professional services furnished by the EP during the entire calendar year. If the EP has not met the threshold in allowed charges by the end of calendar year, CMS expects to issue an incentive payment for the EP in March of the following year (allowing two months after the end of the calendar year for all pending claims to be processed). Read the complete answer here.
Question FAQ #7735: If multiple eligible professionals or eligible hospitals contribute information to a shared portal or to a patient’s online personal health record (PHR), how is it counted for meaningful use when the patient accesses the information on the portal or PHR?
Updated Answer: For Eligible Professionals (EPs):
“More than 5 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP during the EHR reporting period (or their authorized representatives) view, download or transmit to a third party their health information.”
For Eligible Hospital and Critical Access Hospital:
“More than 5 percent of all unique patients (or their authorized representatives) who are discharged from the inpatient or emergency department (Place of Service 21 or 23) of an eligible hospital or CAH view, download or transmit to a third party their information during the EHR reporting period.” Read the complete answer here.
Question FAQ #7737: If I participated in the Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program last year, am I required to participate in the following year?
Updated Answer: No. Medicaid providers are not required to participate in consecutive years of the EHR Incentive Program. Providers who skip years of participation will resume the progression of Meaningful Use (MU) where they left off. All providers are required to meet two years of Stage 1 in their first two years of MU and then proceed to Stage 2, regardless of not participating in consecutive years. (Note that there is an exception to that general rule for providers who demonstrated MU in 2011. These providers need not move to Stage 2 until 2014.) Read the complete answer here.
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