Here is Part Four of the Meaningful Use Series. The Indiana Chapter of the American College of Cardiology has teamed up with the Purdue Regional Extension Center (PurdueREC) to address this important issue. This edition focuses on what to expect during attestation.

Sincerely,

In our last installment, Part Three in our series on EHR Meaningful Use, we informed cardiologists about their responsibilities when it comes to protecting the security of patient health information as specified in Core Objective 15. Now it's time to talk about Meaningful Use Attestation, which is the process of entering your 90 days of Meaningful Use data into the CMS portal.

 

The process for attesting for Medicare incentive payments is not difficult in theory; you simply need to be prepared.  The follow steps demonstrate the process:

1. Register at the CMS site for Medicare/Medicaid EHR incentives. You'll use the same link for Medicare/Medicaid and will select your chosen program while registering.
2. Once you register successfully, you will be able to navigate within the CMS Registration & Attestation System to the "attestation" tab.
3. Follow the portal as it walks you through entering your Meaningful Use information into the tool. Be prepared to save a copy of the supporting documentation for future potential audits.
4. Once attestation is complete, expect your payment to appear in your Medicare/Medicaid remittance advice within approximately 45 days.

You must complete your 90-day attestation period before December 31, 2012, to ensure full incentives.  If you fail to meet that deadline, your maximum incentive payment will automatically be decreased by $5,000.  While your 90-day period may end in December, you have until February 28, 2013, to complete the online portion of the attestation process to receive your incentive payments.

 

PurdueREC has put together a list of some of the more common questions we encounter as we work with eligible providers and hospitals around the state.

Meaningful Use Tips, Tricks & Tactics for Eligible Professionals

Meaningful Use Tips, Tricks & Tactics for Eligible Hospitals

 

Another good tip: Within the CMS Registration & Attestation System, you are able to perform a "dry run" to verify each provider's readiness for actual attestation. It may be prudent to enter your numbers and answer the questions ahead of time so that you get a good feel for how the process works. If your metrics are above thresholds, congratulations! 

 

In part 5 of this series, we will provide you with some insight on what to expect beyond EHR Meaningful Use Stage 1.

  

If you have any questions about risk assessment methodologies or remediation strategies, contact the PurdueREC to speak with a security assessor at (765) 494-7538.If you need additional guidance, contact Caren Crum, Purdue Regional Extension Center Account Manager, at (765) 494-9204 or carencrum@purdue.edu. The PurdueREC offers specialist providers EHR Meaningful Use guidance, attestation validation/support, and security risk assessments.

 

Purdue University has spent the past year helping more than 2,400 Indiana primary care physicians and more than 30 hospitals as they seek to comply with the "Meaningful Use" standards associated with electronic health records systems (EHRs).