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Meaningful Use

Meaningful Use of EHR Software

EHR Incentive Program CMSThe Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs provide a EHR incentives for achieving “meaningful use,” which is the use of certified EHR technology to achieve health and efficiency goals. This section provides an overview of the Stage 1 and Stage 2 EHR meaningful use core and menu objectives for eligible professionals (EPs) as outlined by CMS – which are intended to set standards for electronic data capture and information sharing.

Medicare EHR Incentive Program

The Medicare EHR Incentive Program provides incentive payments to eligible professionals that demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology.

Eligible professionals can receive up to $44,000 over five years under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. There’s an additional incentive for eligible professionals who provide services in a Health Professional Shortage Area (HSPA).To get the maximum incentive payment, Medicare eligible professionals must have begun participation by 2012. Payments are slightly reduced for eligible providers who begin participation in 2013.

Medicaid EHR Incentive Program

The Medicaid EHR Incentive Program provides incentive payments to eligible professionals as they adopt, implement, upgrade, or demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology in their first year of participation and demonstrate meaningful use for up to five remaining participation years. Eligible professionals can receive up to $63,750 over the six years that they choose to participate in the program.

The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs provide a financial incentive for achieving “meaningful use,” which is the use of certified EHR technology to achieve health and efficiency goals. This section provides an overview of the Stage 1 EHR meaningful use core and menu objectives for eligible professionals (EPs) as outlined by CMS – which are intended to set a baseline for electronic data capture and information sharing.

The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs are staged in three steps with increasing requirements for participation. All providers begin participating by meeting the Stage 1 requirements for a 90-day period in their first year of meaningful use and a full year in their second year of meaningful use. After meeting the Stage 1 requirements, providers will then have to meet Stage 2 requirements for two full years.

Stage 1 Meaningful Use Requirements

Meaningful use includes both a core set and a menu set of objectives. For eligible professionals, there are a total of 25 meaningful use objectives.  To qualify for an incentive payment, 20 of these 25 objectives must be met:

  • 15 required core objectives
  • 5 objectives chosen from a list of 10 menu set objectives

All providers begin participating by meeting the Stage 1 requirements for a 90-day period in their first year of meaningful use and a full year in their second year of meaningful use. After meeting the Stage 1 requirements, providers will then have to meet Stage 2 requirements for two full years.

Learn more about Stage 1 Meaningful Use

Stage 2 Meaningful Use Requirements

To demonstrate meaningful use under Stage 2 criteria:

  • EPs must meet 17 core objectives and 3 menu objectives that they select from a total list of 6, or a total of 20 core objectives.

The earliest that the Stage 2 criteria will be effective is in fiscal year 2014 for eligible hospitals and CAHs or calendar year 2014 for EPs. The table below illustrates the progression of meaningful use stages from when a Medicare provider begins participation in the program.

>> Learn more about Stage 2 Meaningful Use

Meaningful Use Stages

Meaningful Use Stages Chart from CMS

Note that providers who were early demonstrators of meaningful use in 2011 will meet three consecutive years of meaningful use under the Stage 1 criteria before advancing to the Stage 2 criteria in 2014. All other providers would meet two years of meaningful use under the Stage 1 criteria before advancing to the Stage 2 criteria in their third year.

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