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Chicago – Feb. 13, 2012 - More than two-thirds (71 percent) of the complete electronic health records (EHRs) of providers and hospitals that have successfully attested to federal meaningful use criteria and qualified for incentives through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are dually certified under both the ONC-ATCB and the CCHIT Certified programs of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology. According to the latest figures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), approximately 22,000 eligible providers and hospitals with complete EHRs have successfully attested.

“These early adopters have advantage of complete EHRs that not only meet the meaningful use requirements established by the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT (ONC), but also have been against the more rigorous clinical scenarios for functionality, interoperability and safety required by the independent CCHIT Certified program,” said Karen M. Bell, MD, chair, CCHIT. “It’s no surprise that the vast majority of physicians and other providers are choosing tried and true CCHIT Certified products that have been proven over the years to support their unique business and patient care needs.”

CCHIT continues to certify EHR products in both programs, Some health IT companies previously certified by CCHIT in the ONC-ATCB program are not returning to become CCHIT Certified. The CCHIT Certified program includes both “core” and “optional” certifications. Currently, optional, add-on certifications for specialty care or special patient populations include behavioral health, cardiovascular medicine, child health, dermatology, clinical research, oncology and women’s health.

“Moving forward, CCHIT will continue to review and upgrade its independently developed, comprehensive programs to ensure that EHR certification keeps pace with advances in the field, and meets the various information technology needs of health care providers in the future,” Bell said.

About CCHIT
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) is an independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the public mission of accelerating the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology. The Commission has been certifying electronic health record technology since 2006 and is approved by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as an Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB).

CMS is proud to announce that after a review of collected feedback, enhancements and changes have recently been made to the EHR Information Center Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System.

Among these caller-friendly revisions is a new feature to assist with Hot Topics, including registration and attestation, as well as updated Password Reset menus. These improvements will enable eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) to obtain information about the EHR Incentive Program more easily and efficiently.

Directions for calling the EHR Information Center
1. To Contact the IVR, dial 1-888-734-6433 (primary number) or 888-734-6563 (TTY number).
2. Take advantage of the new options from the main menu by doing the following:

1. Press 1 for Hot Topics
1. For information on when registration begins, press 1.
2. For information on attestation, press 2.
3. For information on being a dually-eligible hospital, press 3.
4. For information on registration tips, press 4.
5. For information on payment time frames, press 5.
6. For information on important upcoming dates, press 6.
7. For information on the clinical quality measures (CQM) eReporting pilot, press 7.
8. For information on HPSA payments, press 8.
2. Press 2 for information on NPPES and PECOS password resets
1. For EPs needing NPPES/PECOS password resets, press 1.
2. For eligible hospitals needing PECOS password resets, press 2.
3. Press 0 to speak with an information specialist.
1. For registration questions, press 1.
2. For all other questions, press 2.
4. Press # to repeat the menu
1. To listen to your available menu options, press #.

EHR Information Center Hours of Operation
7:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (Central Time) Monday through Friday, except federal holidays (General information is available on the IVR 24 hours a day, except during system maintenance.)

Program information can also be found on the FAQ section of the EHR Incentive Programs website, where users can search for any questions they have about the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.

Want more information about EHR Incentive Programs?
Make sure to visit the EHR Incentive Programs website for the latest news and updates on the EHR Incentive Programs.

January 3rd was the one year anniversary of the start of registration for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs. Over the past year, there has been a tremendous amount of interest in the incentive programs as providers across the country have implemented EHRs. Year one highlights include:

1. 43 states have started their Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
2. Over 176,000 people have registered for the Medicare and/or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
3. Over $2.5 billion has been paid in incentive payments to eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) across the country

CMS has created useful resources to participants in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. A few new resources include:

1. An Introduction to the Medicare EHR Incentive Program for Eligible Professionals

-this interactive guide walks EPs through every aspect of the Medicare program, and provides helpful resources and tips along the way.

2. Updated User Guides – CMS has updated the registration and attestation user guides, which direct EPs and eligible hospitals through CMS’ registration and attestation system. There are five guides that can be downloaded from the Education Materials page of the CMS website.
3. Provider Testimonial Videos – these videos, which can be found on the CMS YouTube channel, highlight providers’ experiences participating in the EHR Incentive Programs.

A Look Ahead
As we move into 2012 and the second participation year of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, CMS is hopeful that providers will begin or continue their participation in the programs, and take advantage of these incentives for meaningful use of EHRs.

If you are considering registering for the programs, but have not done so yet, take a look at the CMS EHR website and use our eligibility tool to find out if you can eligibility tool to find out if you can participate.

Remember: 2012 is the last year in which EPs can receive a full incentive payment in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. Beginning in 2013, EPs will receive a smaller overall total payment.

Want more information about the EHR Incentive Programs?
Make sure to visit the EHR Incentive Programs website for the latest news and updates on the EHR Incentive Programs.

January 12, 2012 (via American Medical Association)

Last fall, physicians had the opportunity to seek hardship exemptions and avoid penalties for failing to successfully participate in Medicare’s e-prescribing program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is reviewing each hardship exemption request on an individual basis and has not yet completed its analysis. Therefore, it is possible that some physicians will be subjected to a 1 percent Medicare payment penalty inappropriately until the backlog of exemption requests is reviewed. Ultimately, CMS will reprocess the claims.

Read information regarding remittance advice and information on the impact of physician reimbursement and patient co-pays. More information on the penalty program can be found here.

Find additional electronic prescribing information resources on the AMA website.

The revised Advanced Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN), Form CMS-R-131, is issued by providers (including independent laboratories), physicians, practitioners, and suppliers in situations where Medicare payment is expected to be denied. The revised ABN replaces the ABN-G (Form CMS-R-131G), ABN-L (form CMS-R-131L), and NEMB (Form CMS-20007). See the revised ABN manual instructions below for detailed instructions on mandatory and voluntary use of the revised ABN.

Note: Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) must use the revised ABN for items/services expected to be denied under Medicare Part B only.

September 20, 2011: Extension of mandatory use date for REVISED ABN, FORM CMS-R-131, posted for download on May 16, 2011. Mandatory use date: January 1, 2011.

The latest version of ABN (with the release date of 3/2011 printed in the lower left hand corner) is now available for immediate use and can be accessed via the link below. In order for providers and suppliers to have time to transition to using the newly posted notice, mandatory use of this version begins on January 1, 2012. All ABNs with the release date of 3/2008 that are issued on or after January 1, 2012 will be considered invalid.

The mandatory use date has been changed from September of 2011 to January of 2012 to accommodate those providers and suppliers with pre-printed stockpiles of ABNs so that they have additional time to exhaust their supplies of the outgoing ABN.

The newest version of ABN and the instructions for use can be downloaded at the following page:
http://www.cms.gov/BNI/02_ABN.asp#TopOfPage