HHS Extends a Meaningful Use Deadline to 2014

Buried in a Nov. 30 press release, HHS announced they would be extending a stage 2 meaningful use deadline to 2014 in order to encourage electronic health record (EHR) adoption.

Certification of EHRs is part of a broad initiative undertaken by Congress and President Obama under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

HITECH created new incentive payment programs to help health providers as they transition from paper-based medical records to EHRs. Incentive payments totaling as much as $27 billion may be made under the program. Individual physicians and other eligible professionals can receive up to $44,000 through Medicare and almost $64,000 through Medicaid. Hospitals can receive millions.

Modern Healthcare explained that currently, medical professionals who qualified in 2011 for incentive payments as Stage 1 meaningful users needed to meet new and stringent stage 2 standards in 2013. Now, with the policy change, providers that delayed implementation until 2012 have until 2014.

Click HERE to learn more about how to achieve meaningful use in the nephrology setting.  

From the release: " Under the current requirements, eligible doctors and hospitals that begin participating in the Medicare EHR (electronic health record) Incentive Programs this year would have to meet new standards for the program in 2013.  If they did not participate in the program until 2012, they could wait to meet these new standards until 2014 and still be eligible for the same incentive payment. To encourage faster adoption, the Secretary announced that HHS intends to allow doctors and hospitals to adopt health IT this year, without meeting the new standards until 2014. Doctors who act quickly can also qualify for incentive payments in 2011 as well as 2012."