MU Misconceptions Quiz

TOPICS:

Posted By: Roberta Mullin April 23, 2014

Kathy McCoyDo You Know the Facts about 2014 Meaningful Use?

By Kathy McCoy, Director, Content Marketing at HealthFusion
Twitter: @HealthFusionKMc

Think you’ve got a good grasp on what’s required for Meaningful Use (MU) with the changes for 2014?  Find out how well you know MU by taking our short quiz on common misconceptions about both Stage 1 and Stage 2 Meaningful Use.

True or False
  1. You can wait to begin attesting for the first time for MU under Medicare in 2015.
  2. Not attesting for Meaningful Use will have no impact on your income other than missing out on the incentive payment.
  3. You can attest for 2014 Meaningful Use with whichever EHR you have currently.
  4. All of the EHRs that were certified for Meaningful Use in 2011 are certified for 2014.
  5. Even if an EHR is certified for 2014, you should be careful about selecting one that will work for your specialty.
Answers
  1. False – you can’t begin attesting for the first time for MU under Medicare after this year. 2014 is the last year in which an EP can begin to get MU incentive payments in the Medicare program. 2016 is the last year for EPs to begin under Medicaid.
  2. False – not attesting for Meaningful Use will have an ongoing impact on your income in addition to missing out on the incentive payment. Unfortunately, providers who don’t attest for Meaningful Use will see an ongoing impact on their income. 2014 meaningful use performance will be the basis for 2016 Medicare payment adjustments; for EPs, this could mean a 2% reduction in Medicare payments, which would be a loss of about $5,000 for the average practice.
  3. False – you may not be able to attest for 2014 Meaningful Use with the EHR you have currently. For 2014 you must attest for either Stage 1 or Stage 2 Meaningful Use with an EHR certified for 2014. 2011 certifications will not be accepted without a hardship exception, which must be submitted by July 1, 2014. And keep in mind that while the hardship exception will get you out of the penalties, you will lose your incentive payment.
  4. False – not all EHRs that were certified for Meaningful Use in 2011 are certified for 2014. Only about 200 complete ambulatory EHRs have been certified for 2014. That means that a large majority of the 1,931 complete ambulatory EHRs certified for 2011 are no longer an option for 2014 unless you file for the recently announced hardship exception, and again, sacrifice your incentive payment.
  5. True – not all EHRs that were certified for 2014 will work for any specialty. To make sure you have the right EHR for your specialty, you will need to review the Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) for which the EHR is certified. In some cases, even some of the top 25 EHRs were certified for small numbers of Meaningful Use Stage 2 quality measures. Only 3 of the top 25 EHRs were certified for all 64 CQMs.

How’s your score so far? If you’re not doing well, you can study up before the second part of the test, which will be published tomorrow.

About the author: Kathy McCoy, MBA, has written on practice management and revenue cycle management for more than 5 years for leading medical software, medical marketing and medical billing companies and is currently Director, Content Marketing, for HealthFusion. She has more than 17 years of experience in continuing medical education, developing programs with respected educational institutions including Columbia University, Johns Hopkins, and Cleveland Clinic. Contact Kathy at kmccoy@HealthFusion.com