CMS issues EHR incentive program guidance for specialists, PCPs

Kicking off the new calendar year that will usher in meaningful use stage 2 for early adopters, CMS has offered clarifications on how to comply with some of the criteria that gets eligible providers (EPs) and eligible hospitals (EHs) paid their EHR incentive program checks.

In total, eight new answers to frequently asked questions and updated answers to three others are posted. The highlights of what they reveal:

• Anesthesiologists, pathologists and radiologists may already apply for exceptions for criteria mandating face-to-face interactions and followup care, because they don’t see a lot of patients in person. CMS now says other specialists may apply for these exceptions, too.
• Certified medical assistants’ entering of orders into computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems now count toward meaningful use.
• Clarifications on requirements surrounding the exchange of summary of care documents between providers with different brands of EHRs, or with the CMS test EHR system.
• When multiple physicians share a patient portal system, and they all contribute information to a patient’s record, who gets the credit for the meaningful use criteria compliance when a patient downloads that record?

All the EHR Incentive program’s FAQs can be viewed here.

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