The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released final rules that simplify requirements and add new flexibilities for providers to make, electronic health information available when and where it matters most and for health care providers and consumers to be able to readily, safely, and securely exchange that information. The final rules for 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria (2015 Edition) and final rules with comment period for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHRs) Incentive Programs will help continue to move the health care industry from a paper-based system, where a doctor’s hand-writing had to be interpreted and patient files could be misplaced.
CMS heard from physicians and other providers about the challenges and burdens they face making this technology work well for their individual practices and for their patients. In recognition of these concerns, the final regulations make significant changes to current requirements by easing the reporting burden for providers, supporting interoperability, and improving patient outcomes. CMS is also encouraging providers to apply for exemptions if they had difficulty with or needed to switch their EHR vendor or experienced challenges due to the timing of the rules and EHR implementation. Additionally, the new rules will enable the development of user-friendly technology, allowing individuals easier access to their information so they can be engaged and empowered in their care.
Overview of Rule Provisions
CMS reviewed and considered more than 2,500 comments on the two proposed rules to create the final policies, with the opportunity for additional comment, for participation in the EHR Incentive Programs. In recognition of the issues raised, CMMS made significant changes to ease reporting burden for all providers, supporting health information exchange, and improving patient outcomes. For example, the regulations:
- Shift the paradigm so health IT becomes a tool for care improvement, not an end in itself.
- Provide simplicity and flexibility so that providers can choose measures that use in their practices and report progress that are most meaningful to their practice.
- Give providers and state Medicaid agencies more time – 27 months, until January 1, 2018 – to comply with the new requirements and prepare for the next set of system improvements.
- Give developers more time to create the next advancements in technology that will be easier to use and more appropriate to new models of care and access to data by consumers.
- Support provider exchange of health information and a more useful interoperable infrastructure for information exchange between providers and with patients
- Give developers more time to create the next advancements in technology that will be easier to use and more appropriate to new models of care and access to data by consumers.
- Address health information blocking and interoperability between providers and with patients.
For the EHR Incentive Programs in 2015 through 2017, major provisions include:
- 10 objectives for eligible professionals including one public health reporting objective, down from 18 total objectives in prior stages.
- 9 objectives for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) including one public health reporting objective, down from 20 total objectives in prior stages.
- Clinical Quality Measures (CQM) reporting for both eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals/CAHs remains as previously finalized.
CMS evaluated the current programs and identified areas where modifications could be made to align with the long-term vision and goals for Stage 3. CMS restructured the objectives and measures of the EHR Incentive Programs in 2015 through 2017 to align with Stage 3, and modified “patient action” measures in Stage 2 objectives. These changes recognize the progress providers have made and realign with long term goals.
For Stage 3 of the EHR Incentive Programs in 2017 and subsequent years, major provisions include:
- 8 objectives for eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and CAHs: In Stage 3, more than 60 percent of the proposed measures require interoperability, up from 33 percent in Stage 2.
- Public health reporting with flexible options for measure selection.
- CQM reporting aligned with the CMS quality reporting programs.
- Finalize the use of application program interfaces (APIs) that enable the development of new functionalities to build bridges across systems and provide increased data access. This will help patients have unprecedented access to their own health records, empowering individuals to make key health decisions.
The Stage 3 requirements are optional in 2017. Providers who choose to begin Stage 3 in 2017 will have a 90-day reporting period. All providers will be required to comply with Stage 3 requirements beginning in 2018 using EHR technology certified to the 2015 Edition. Objectives and measures for Stage 3 include increased thresholds, advanced use of health information exchange functionality, and an overall focus on continuous quality improvement.
In addition, the final rule adopts flexible reporting periods that are aligned with other programs to reduce burden, including moving from fiscal year to calendar year reporting for all providers beginning in 2015, and offering a 90-day reporting period in 2015 for all providers, for new participants in 2016 and 2017, and for any provider moving to Stage 3 in 2017.
As part of today’s regulations, CMS announced a 60-day public comment period to facilitate additional feedback about Stage 3 of the EHR Incentive Programs going forward, in particular with the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), which established the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and consolidates certain aspects of a number of quality measurement and federal incentive programs into one more efficient framework. We will use this feedback to inform future policy developments for the EHR Incentive Programs, as well as consider it during rulemaking to implement MACRA, which we expect to release in the spring of 2016.
More information on the rule can be found at the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website at www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms. A general fact sheet is also available on this rule.
Source: CMS.gov 10/6/15