Doctors and hospitals are getting another chance to apply for relief from the federal EHR meaningful use program and avoid penalties, officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced.
The agency is reopening the application period for hardship exemptions, specifically for physicians and hospitals that are attesting to their meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) for the first time, and who have been using older technology.
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The new deadline for hardship applications is 11:59 p.m. EST on Nov. 30.
The new deadline for hardship applications is 11:59 p.m. EST on Nov. 30.
The deadline to apply for a hardship exemption originally closed on April 1 for hospitals and July 1 for physicians. But the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reopened the process after it became clear that a subset of physicians who were attesting to meaningful use for the first time could see a 1% penalty due to a government website problem.
At the center of the problem is a backlog in the availability of newly certified EHR products. Knowing that many physicians and hospitals would be unable to attest to using newly certified products in time for this year’s meaningful use deadline, the CMS proposed in May to allow them to attest to using older technology during 2014.
The final rule, released in August, gives physicians the flexibility to use either a 2011 certified product, a newer 2014 certified product, or a combination of both, without being penalized. But the website where physicians must apply for the flexibility was not ready in time for the Oct. 1 attestation deadline.
The mismatch in deadlines raised the ire of physician groups and members of Congress, who called on the CMS to find some pathway for physicians to avoid penalties earned through no fault of their own.
On Oct. 7, the CMS announced that it would reopen the hardship application period for physicians and hospitals that had been unable to fully implement 2014 certified EHRs due to delays in their availability, as well as those who were unable to attest to meaningful use by the deadline and were using the flexibility options outlined by the CMS.
The announcement was praised by the American Medical Association. AMA President Robert M. Wah said the change will allow more physicians to avoid an “unfair” penalty in 2015.
“Giving physicians more time to file for a hardship exemption provides necessary relief as many physicians are struggling to meet a number of reporting mandates to avoid multiple penalties,” Dr. Wah said in a statement.
mschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
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