CMS Issues Final Rule on Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentives - July 20, 2010

On July 13, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs. These programs were established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and include $17.2 billion in Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments for hospitals and physicians—penalties are also included should providers fail to adopt adequate electronic health records. Among other developments, the final rule relaxes the proposed all-or-nothing approach to achieving meaningful use and instead will allow hospitals to choose five measures from a menu of ten once they have demonstrated compliance with a core set of 14 measures. In addition, CMS clarified that EHR incentive payments will not count against Medicaid upper payment limits or Medicaid disproportionate share hospital limits. The final rule details requirements for achieving Stage 1 meaningful use only; CMS is deferring the details of Stages 2 and 3 to future rulemaking. The rule will be published in the Federal Register on July 28 and will become effective 60 days later.

There are several opportunities to hear more information about the rule. First, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is hosting a conference call for the general public on the EHR incentive programs on Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 2:00PM EST. The dial-in number is 1-877-251-0301and the conference ID pass code is 87841621. Additionally, NAPH is hosting a conference call with HHS on the EHR incentive programs on Thursday, August 5, 2010 from 11:00AM to 12:00PM EST. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and Tony Trenkle from CMS are expected to speak at this event. Call-in information is forthcoming.