In February 2014, CMS extended the deadline for Medicare eligible professionals to submit their 2013 meaningful use attestations from Feb. 28, 2014, to March 31, 2014. Participating eligible professionals must submit their information before this deadline to receive their incentive payment for 2013. CMS recommends that since there will be a large volume of providers attesting near the deadline, professionals should consider attesting during nonpeak hours to avoid delays. For further attestation instructions, please refer to the CMS Attestation User Guide or call 1-888-734-6433.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 created the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs. These programs provide financial incentives to eligible professionals, hospitals and critical access hospitals for achieving certain objectives related to the acquisition and use of EHR technology. Eligible professionals can receive aggregate incentive payments of up to $44,000 for over five consecutive years of meeting Medicare meaningful use goals.
In order to receive these financial incentives, eligible professionals who first qualified for a Medicare incentive payment in 2011 or 2012 must demonstrate meaningful use for all 12 months of 2013. However, those professionals who participated for the first time in 2013 must demonstrate meaningful use for only a 90-day period in 2013 to receive the incentive payment.
If you have any questions about meaningful use, EHRs or health information exchange, please do not hesitate to contact one of the authors.