New EHR Attestation Deadline

New EHR Attestation Deadline for Medicare Eligible Professionals: March 20, 2015  Eligible professionals now have until 11:59 pm ET on March 20, 2015, to attest to meaningful use for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program 2014 reporting year.CMS extended the deadline to allow providers extra time to submit their meaningful use data. CMS continues to urge providers to begin attesting for 2014 as soon as they can. This extension also allows eligible professionals, who have not already used their one “switch”, to switch programs (from Medicare to Medicaid, or vice versa) for the 2014 payment year until 11:59 pm ET on March 20, 2015. After that time, eligible professionals will no longer be able to switch programs. Medicare eligible professionals must attest to meaningful use every year to receive an incentive and avoid a payment adjustment. Providers who successfully attest for the 2014 program year will: Receive an incentive payment Avoid the Medicare payment adjustment, which will be applied January 1, 2016 Note: The Medicare extension does not affect deadlines for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. Additionally, the EHR reporting option for PQRS has been extended until March 20, 2015. Please be on the lookout for a separate listserv with information regarding the PQRS program extension. How to Attest Submit your data to the Registration and Attestation System, which includes 2014 Certified EHR Technology (CEHRT) Flexibility Rule options. Tips for speed: Attest during non-peak hours, such as evenings and weekends Start now to: Check that your information is up to date Begin entering your 2014 data To learn more, see the Educational Resources on the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website. For help, call the EHR Information Center: 1-888-734-6433 TTY for people with hearing impairments: 1-888-734-6563 Monday – Friday, 8:30 am – 7:30 pm (ET) Visit the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website Subscriber Services: Manage Preferences | Unsubscribe This service is provided to you by the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.

PQRS/CPCI Announcement

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is pleased to announce that the submission deadlines for the PQRS reporting methods below have been extended.  All other submission time frames for other PQRS reporting methods remain the same.  The revised submission time frames are:

An Individuals Authorized Access to CMS Computer Services (IACS) account with the “PQRS Submitter Role” is required for these PQRS data submission methods. Please see the IACS Quick Reference Guides for specifics.

PQRS provides an incentive payment to individual eligible professionals (EPs) and group practices that satisfactorily participate or satisfactorily report data on quality measures for covered Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) services. Additionally, those who do not meet the 2014 PQRS reporting requirements will be subject to a negative payment adjustment on all Medicare Part B PFS services rendered in 2016.

Note:  The deadline listed above does apply to Individual Eligible Professionals and Group Practices participating in other CMS programs such as the Medicare EHR Incentive Program and Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative that are utilizing the reporting methods listed above. Additionally, CMS has extended the deadline for EPs wishing to attest to meaningful use for the EHR reporting period in 2014 for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program to March 20, 2015. Please be on the lookout for a separate listserv with information regarding the attestation extension.

For questions, please contact the QualityNet Help Desk 1-866-288-8912 or via email at Qnetsupport@hcqis.org from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.Central Time. Complete information about PQRS is available at http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/PQRS/index.html