Convincing electronic health record-reluctant physicians to get on board may have just gotten a little harder. That’s because a technical glitch in the reporting system of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) meaningful use program may cost physicians millions of dollars in penalties.
A CMS rule, published Aug. 29, let EHR users demonstrate compliance with the meaningful use program by using older forms of technology, provided they do so by Oct. 1. The rule was intended to make it easier to qualify for meaningful use incentive payments.
But some doctors who spent millions of dollars on older EHRs have recently learned that CMS won’t be ready to register their attestations until mid-October and, as a result, will have 1 percent of their 2015 Medicare payments withheld, according to a report from Politico.
The glitch was revealed earlier this month in a meeting with EHR vendors, Politico reported, citing Mark Segal, vice president for government and industry affairs at GE Healthcare IT. Providers who show they complied with the meaningful use program this year will get incentive payments for 2014 but will suffer penalties for 2015, he said. “We can see why they are unhappy,” Segal told Politico.
The number of doctors affected by the problem could number in the thousands, Politico noted, adding that CMS has not commented on the issue yet. This year, more than 2,300 doctors and other eligible healthcare workers showed meaningful use with the 2014 CEHRT (Certified Electronic Health Record Technology).
Difficulties in complying with the reporting programs related to EHRs have caught the attention of Congress and lawmakers have been making moves to address complaints.
For instance, earlier this month, new legislation was introduced in Congress to offer providers more flexibility in showing meaningful use compliance. The bill would remedy the Department of Health and Human Services' "short-sighted final rule" requiring 365 days of EHR reporting in 2015.
The bill, “The Flexibility in Health IT Reporting (Flex-IT) Act of 2014,” would allow providers to report their technology upgrades in 2015 through a 90-day reporting period as opposed to a full year. Lawmakers say the shortened reporting window would allow providers to better manage meaningful use's many onerous mandates.
By allowing providers the option to choose any three-month quarter for the EHR reporting period in 2015 to qualify for MU, "hundreds of thousands of providers” would have a better shot of meeting Stage 2 requirements more effectively, said Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.), a sponsor of the bill.
This story is based on a report originally appearing on Government Health IT.