This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Final EHR ‘meaningful use’ rules released
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its final rules for the expanded use of electronic health records. According to the American Optometric Association’s Washington office, the regulations governing the Medicare EHR incentive recognize ODs and allow them to fully participate.
However, the same is not indicated in the regulations governing the Medicaid initiative. The AOA told Primary Care Optometry News the organization is pushing for full recognition of ODs with high Medicaid patient volumes.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 established that eligible health care professionals and hospitals could qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments by adopting certified electronic health record technology to achieve specific objectives. The recent announcement defines those “meaningful use” objectives and identifies the technical capabilities required for certified EHR technology.
HHS also announced two companion final rules in a press release: one from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that defines the minimum requirements providers must meet through their use of certified EHR technology to qualify for the payments, and one from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology that identifies the standards and certification criteria for the certification of EHR technology.
The release also noted that HHS will establish a nationwide network of Regional Extension Centers to assist providers in adopting and using certified EHR technology in a meaningful way.
According to a statement provided to Primary Care Optometry News by the AOA’s Washington office, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulations “governing the Medicare EHR incentive, worth up to $44,000 over 5 years, reflect the intent of Congress that all ODs are recognized and may participate fully as physicians.”
However, regulations governing the Medicaid incentive, worth up to $63,500 over 6 years, the AOA said, do not reflect the intent that all ODs may participate.
“Although CMS has informed AOA that the regulations should allow ODs in some states in which ODs are recognized as providers of physician services in Medicaid to be eligible for Medicaid EHR incentives (if, like MD providers, they have a 30% or more Medicaid patient volume), in the majority of states even ODs who meet this patient volume threshold may be excluded,” the AOA said.
The regulations would specifically exclude other “non-MD/DO” physicians from any participation in the Medicaid EHR incentive, but gives states an option to include ODs, the AOA told PCON.
“It is AOA’s view that the CMS framework for this program falls short of the need to fully recognize all ODs with 30% or greater Medicaid patient volume as eligible participants,” the AOA said.
The AOA said it is taking steps to help states select this option and expand the locations where ODs will be eligible for the Medicaid incentives. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, and Robert Press
- For more information on the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, go to http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/.
- The AOA can be reached at (800) 365-2219; www.aoa.org.