If a physician fails to report one of the following, they will be subject to a 1 percent payment penalty for all Medicare payments in 2012, which will be assessed in 2013.

• at least 25 prescribing events via claims for at least 10 unique denominator eligible eRx events for services provided January 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012
• or report the G8553 code via claims for at least 10 unique denominator eligible eRx events for services provided January 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012
• or apply for an exemption

 

Hardship Exemptions

 

Eligible Professionals may apply for a hardship exemption from CMS that would exempt them from penalties in 2013 based on 2012 claims. Physicians have to apply for the exemption from the 2013 penalty by June 30th, 2012. Visit the CMS web tool to apply.

 

As a result of the advocacy of the Academy and several specialty societies, CMS, on August 31, 2011, issued a final rule, added new exemption categories to enable physicians to avoid the 1% Medicare E-Rx penalty in 2013 (based on 2012).

The newly finalized exemption groups are:

• Practice in a rural area without adequate high-speed internet access,
• Practice in a location without enough available pharmacies for e-prescribing,
• Physicians who are already registered to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Program and who have adopted certified EHR technology, or
• Physicians who are unable to electronically prescribe due to local, State, or Federal law or Regulation (e.g., prescribes controlled substances), or
• Physicians who infrequently prescribe (e.g., prescribe fewer than 10 prescriptions between January 1, 2011 - June 30, 2011), or
• Insufficient opportunities to report the e-prescribing measure due to program limitations.

The eligible professional (EP) must be the person completing and submitting the hardship exemption form; office staff may not complete the form on the EPs behalf. For a GPRO, the hardship exemption must be provided by the GPRO member designated during the time of the self nomination process. For more information on the self-nomination process, please visit visit the GPRO website.

CMS and the QualityNet Help Desk have been receiving calls from physicians who are having difficulty with accessing the Communication Support Page. CMS is asking physicians to take the step below if they are unsuccessful in accessing the Communication Support Page when trying to submit their Hardship Exemption Request:

• After going to the QualityNet portal (link provided below Hardship Exemptions Banner), select Tools/Internet Options/ Advanced.
• Scroll down toward the bottom and locate the "Use TLS 1.0" choice.
• Place a checkmark in the "Use TLS 1.0."
• Click OK. Attempt to access the site again.

If you are still having trouble accessing the site, the QualityNet Help Desk may be reached at 1-866-288-8912 or email at gnetsupport@sdps.org from 7 am to 7 pm CT, Monday through Friday. Due to the high volume of calls that the QualityNet Help Desk has been receiving, there may be a waiting period.