As the meaningful use guidelines have been finalized for Stimulus payments, we now know that it is more critical than ever to start implementing an EHR. There are two provisions you may qualify under- Medicaid or Medicare. Medicaid, paying out a maximum of $63,750, pays 85% of a predetermined EHR system cost (determined by a study done by the HHS). Medicare, paying out a maximum of $44,000, is based off of your Part B net allowable claims.

The government has really scaled back the criteria you must meet to achieve Stage 1 Meaningful use of a certified EHR. There are two parts of criteria you must meet for proving meaningful use. There are 15 core Meaningful Use Criteria, 10 Menu items (of which you choose 5). There are only 6 Clinical Quality Measure Criteria on which you must report; 3 mandatory + 3 of your choice from a list of 38 potential choices. For the most part, the criteria are very basic – noting in a structured way whether a patient is a smoker/non-smoker, patient weight and blood pressure, etc.

There will never be an easier time to qualify for your stimulus money!

There are many reasons why you should move forward now.

First the positive reasons:

• There is a $3000 bonus for someone meeting Meaningful Use in either 2011 or 2012
• Stage 1 Criteria are set and very simplistic. But the government has said they give themselves the right to make them more aggressive in the future. It could get harder, even in Stage 1 so the quicker you qualify the easier for you.
• In 2011 and ONLY in 2011, you are not required to submit your data or proof of data electronically. In order to qualify once you have met the criteria, you just acknowledge it (attestation) on an online site provided by CMS – beginning in April.
• The sooner you meet your 90 day qualification, the sooner you are paid. The government has said for Medicare that if you attest to having met the criteria in April 2011, they will begin sending payments in May 2011.

Next, the negative reasons:

• If you do not meet the criteria in 2012, you will lose your bonus.
• Everyone will want to meet their criteria on or before 2012.
• The lines of people wanting to install, train and get ready for meaningful use criteria are already growing.
  It takes 90-120 days – AT A MINIMUM – to install & train on electronic health record software once you begin the installation.