In January, CMS announced it intends to modify legislation requirements for attesting to meaningful use. CMS plans to trim the meaningful use reporting period from the current year-long reporting period to just 90 days.
The announcement came as a relief for a number of eligible professionals and hospitals and health systems who have been struggling to attest to the EHR federal incentive program and faced Medicare reimbursement cuts as a result.
According to the announcement, the new rules "would be intended to be responsive to provider concerns about software implementation, information exchange readiness and other related concerns."
So how might the new proposed CMS regulations affect provider meaningful use strategies?
Largely for the better, especially for some of the measures providers have traditionally struggled with such as patient engagement, according to Erik Dahl, IT audit director for CHAN Healthcare, a subsidiary of Crowe Horwath LLP, a public accounting and consulting firm.
"This may actually help around patient engagement, as far as allowing more time to implement the strategies and education with the patient engagement measures and also getting more patients registered and online with the patient portal," he says.
Additionally, the shortened reporting period will give providers more time to work on clinical summaries and interfacing with other providers in the area to exchange records, Mr. Dahl says.
However, he does identify one singular challenge providers may face thanks to these changes, reminiscent of challenges surrounding meaningful use stage 1.
"Some of the challenges that many of our clients have faced around meaningful use stage 1 is just interpretation of the requirements," Mr. Dahl says. "When stage 3 comes out, there will probably be some additional interpretations required for that. It's an ongoing challenge."
Mr. Dahl also offers four tips for hospitals regarding meaningful use audits.
1. Keep files of attestation reports for at least six years. It's better to keep reports that you previously ran because later reports might include tweaks and updates, and it's better to have documentation of changes, he says.
2. Assemble a summary page to send to auditors to explain what exactly you're providing and the file names for requested documents.
3. Explain any nuances up front. It's easier to address and be forthcoming about any errors or inconsistencies than to back track later, Mr. Dahl says.
4. Define a formal audit procedure. Upon receiving an audit notice, Mr. Dahl says it is best to have a preliminary plan in place outlining who will be involved and who will be responsible for what. "A formal procedure is something I would recommend so you're not trying to figure it out as you go," Mr. Dahl says. "You don't want to be unprepared when you do get the [audit] request."
More articles on meaningful use:
AMA: MU deadline extension welcome, but not enough
CMS extends MU attestation deadline for eligible professionals
New York City to expand access to MU attestation software