Have you Received Your Medicare EHR Incentive Payment?

CMS will be posting recipient information to its website for those eligible professionals and hospital recipients who successfully demonstrated meaningful use and received electronic health record (EHR) incentive payments as of March 2012. This information will be available in CSV and PDF file format. The list will be updated quarterly and does not include group practices since incentive payments are not provided on that level. Providing the list allows those physicians who have attested to meaningful use to confirm that they have been paid. Click here to view the PDF version of the list. The eligible hospitals who have received incentive payments can be viewed here.

Medicaid EHR Incentive Program: Navigating the Updated Attestation Portal

The NCMS, in conjunction with the North Carolina Medical Group Managers (NCMGM) and North Carolina Medicaid Health Information Technology, will be offering a webinar on Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm that offers an update on the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, introduces the Medicaid EHR Incentive Portal, reviews the basic requirements of the program and shares tips on making the attestation process successful. Information on the NC Medicaid Incentive Payment System (NC-MIPS), which is set to go live on June 5, 2012 for Adopt, Implement and Upgrade (AIU) attestations and June 27, 2012 for Meaningful Use (MU) attestations, will also be provided. Participants will get the chance to learn how to enter the required attestation data. A question and answer session will follow the webinar. Click here to register.

The NCMS Foundation provides consulting services to medical practices making technology decisions including selecting and implementing an EHR or achieving meaningful use. For more information on NCMS consulting services or for assistance in meeting Meaningful Use requirements, contact Terri Gonzalez, NCMS Foundation Director of Practice Improvement, at 800-722-1350 or [email protected].

Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Payment Adjustments

For those eligible professionals who have yet to become successful electronic prescribers, the following payment adjustment penalties to those professional’s Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule will take place:

• Calendar Year 2012 will have a one percent downward payment adjustment
• Calendar Year 2013 will have a 1.5 percent downward payment adjustment
• Calendar Year 2014 will have a two percent downward payment adjustment

To avoid the 2013 eRx payment adjustment, individual eligible professionals can meet the reporting requirement of 10 eRx submissions via claims between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2012. CMS may exempt professionals from the 2013 eRx payment adjustment if eRx results in significant hardship. Click here to submit a hardship exemption request.

CMS to Accept Quality Measure Suggestions

CMS announced that it will be accepting quality measure suggestions for inclusion into the proposed set of the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) quality measures. Required documents should be submitted to [email protected] beginning June 1, 2012 until August 1, 2012. Click here for a list of required documents.

CMS will be holding a conference call about the 2013 eRx payment adjustment and 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot on Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm. Click here to register.