Meaningful Use Roadmap:
Three Steps to Your Incentive Payment
Obtaining your EHR payment is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
Step 1: Register with the government program that is right for you.
Both Medicare and Medicaid offer EHR incentive programs. These programs are mutually exclusive, meaning that if you participate in one, you may not participate in the other. However, if you qualify for both programs, you do have the option of switching programs during a reporting year.
You can register for either program here.
See the table below for an overview of the eligibility criteria for each program.
| Medicare | Medicaid |
|---|---|
The following medical professionals are eligible for participation in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program:
Exceptions: Doctors who perform 90% or more of their services in hospital inpatient or emergency room services are not eligible. Also, doctors who participate in the Medicaid Incentive Program or the e-Prescribing Incentive Program may not participate in this program. For more information, see this CMS press release. |
The following medical professionals are eligible for participation in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program:
Exceptions: Doctors who perform 90% or more of their services in hospital inpatient or emergency room services are not eligible. Also, doctors who participate in the Medicare Incentive Program may not also participate in this program. For more information, see this CMS press release. |
For an overview of the differences between the two programs, see the table below:
| Medicare | Medicaid |
|---|---|
| Run by the federal government. Registration opened in January 2011. | Run by the states. See your state Medicaid agency for information. |
| Can receive up to $44,000 ($48,400 if in a Health Provider Shortage Area) over 5 years. | Can receive up to $63,750 over 6 years. |
| Required to demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology every year to qualify for payment. | Can qualify for payment for adopting, implementing, upgrading or demonstrating meaningful use of certified EHR technology in first participation year. Required to demonstrate meaningful use in each subsequent year. See your state Medicaid agency for information. |
Table drawn from CMS press release.
Payment schedules for both programs have been published by the CMS:
| MEDICARE PAYMENT SCHEDULE | Calendar Year | First CY for which the EP Receives an Incentive Payment |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 and subsequent years |
||
2011 |
$18,000 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
|
2012 |
$12,000 |
$18,000 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
|
2013 |
$8,000 |
$12,000 |
$15,000 |
--- |
--- |
|
2014 |
$4,000 |
$8,000 |
$12,000 |
$12,000 |
--- |
|
2015 |
$2,000 |
$4,000 |
$8,000 |
$8,000 |
$0 |
|
2016 |
--- |
$2,000 |
$4,000 |
$4,000 |
$0 |
|
TOTAL |
$44,000 |
$44,000 |
$39,000 |
$24,000 |
$0 |
|
Schedule of payments drawn from a CMS press release, available here.
| MEDICAID PAYMENT SCHEDULE | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calendar Year | Qualify to receive first payment in: | |||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| 2011 | $21,250 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2012 | $8,500 | $21,250 | - | - | - | - |
| 2013 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $21,250 | - | - | - |
| 2014 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $21,250 | - | - |
| 2015 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $21,250 | - |
| 2016 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $21,250 |
| 2017 | $0 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 |
| 2018 | $0 | $0 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 |
| 2019 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 |
| 2020 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $8,500 | $8,500 |
| 2021 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $8,500 |
| TOTAL | $63,750 | $63,750 | $63,750 | $63,750 | $63,750 | $63,750 |
Schedule of payments drawn from a CMS press release, available here.
Step 2: Purchase Praxis EMR.
In order to receive your incentive payment, you must obtain Praxis v7
Step 3: Demonstrate meaningful use.
Under Medicare, it is not enough to simply adopt an EMR; for the government to issue payment, you must demonstrate meaningful use as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services. To do so:
- You must meet 15 core requirements.
- Additionally, from a list of optional quality requirements, you must choose those for your specialty.
| COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF MEANINGFUL USE REQUIREMENTS | |
|---|---|
| Core Requirements | |
| Record patient demographics. | Praxis |
| Record vital signs and chart changes. | Praxis |
| Maintain up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses. | Praxis |
| Maintain active medication list. | Praxis |
| Maintain active medication allergy list. | Praxis |
| Record smoking status. | Praxis |
| Provide patients with clinical summaries for each office visit. | Praxis |
| On request, provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information. | Praxis |
| Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically. | Praxis |
| CPOE for medication orders. | Praxis |
| Implement drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks. | Praxis |
| Implement capability to electronically exchange key clinical information among providers and patient-authorized entities. | Praxis |
| Implement one clinical decision support rule and ability to track compliance with rule. | Praxis |
| Implement systems to protect privacy and security of patient data in the EHR. | Praxis |
| Report clinical quality measures to CMS or states. | Praxis |
| Optional Requirements | |
|---|---|
| Implement drug formulary checks. | Praxis |
| Incorporate clinical laboratory test results into EHRs as structured data. | Praxis |
| Generate lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research, or outreach. | Praxis |
| Use EHR technology to identify patient-specific education resources and provide those to the patient as appropriate. | Praxis |
| Perform medication reconciliation between care settings. | Praxis |
| Provide summary of care record for patients referred or transitioned to another provider or setting. | Praxis |
| Submit electronic immunization data to immunization registries or immunization information systems. | Praxis |
| Submit electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies. | Praxis |
| Send reminders to patients (per patient preference) for preventive and follow-up care. | Praxis |
| Provide patients with timely electronic access to their health information. | Praxis |