Unveiling the Mysteries of US Healthcare – Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 1

Ever since it started in January 2011, more than 484,000 eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals have actively registered in the Stage 1 of Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs as of June 2014 and still counting as the deadline nears. If you have not yet registered for the Meaningful Use stage 1 this might be your last chance to be a part of the healthcare revolution.

How to begin participating in Meaningful Use Stage 1?

The Stage 1 of the Medicare EHR Incentive Program begins by self-assessment. If you find yourself eligible you can register on the CMS website: https://ehrincentives.cms.gov/hitech/login.action. You will need an NPI which can be obtained from NPPES. The NPPES user ID and password will also be required to login to the system for completing the registration process.

• Determine your eligibility to participate in the Medicare and/or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
• Prepare for registration
• Register to participate in the Medicare and/or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. You must register with CMS online
• Determine certification of your EHR system. To determine if an EHR system is currently certified, view the ONC Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL)
• Meet meaningful use requirements and prepare for attestation
• Attest that you have met the thresholds of all of the requirements of the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs
• Retain proper documentation in case of an audit. Note: You may be audited prior to receiving payment

After registering, the Reporting period is 90 days for first year and 1 year subsequently. The reporting is done online through a process called attestation. The EPs and EHs/CAHs have to provide certain data related to meaningful use to CMS. Usually the data is required to be reported in the form of yes/no or numerator/denominator during attestation. To meet certain objectives/measures, 80% of patients must have records in the certified EHR technology

What are the Requirements of Stage 1 Meaningful Use?

Meaningful Use Stage 1 uses a core and menu structure of objectives required to be met by EPs and EHs/CAHs. Criteria for providers demonstrating the 2014 edition of Meaningful Use stage 1 is listed below.

Eligible professionals must meet the following:

• 13 required core objectives
• 5 menu objectives from a list of 9
• Total of 18 objectives

Eligible hospitals and CAHs must meet the following:

• 11 required core objectives
• 5 menu objectives from a list of 10
• Total of 16 objectives

CMS has eliminated the process of reporting clinical quality measure (CQM) as a separate core objective for Stage 1 for all providers in the 2014 edition. However, reporting CQMs will still be required in order to achieve meaningful use. The CQMs can be reported to CMS using PQRS (Physician Quality Reporting System) using the standard format provided by them.

You can find a detailed list of objectives and CQMs for EPs and EHs/CAHs on the CMS website.

http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/index.html

Some of the MU objectives are not applicable to every provider’s clinical practice. Thus there would be an absence of any eligible patients or actions for the measure denominator. In such cases, usually the eligible professional, the eligible hospital or CAH would be excluded from having to meet that measure.

The data reported to the CMS can be used by the federal government for analyzing the overall health of a population and help them formulate strategies to improve the overall health of that population by implementing suitable programs. Thus Meaningful Use can be summarized as a baby step towards the revival of the US Healthcare Industry for making healthcare more effective and affordable.

This is a brief summary of meaningful use stage 1.