
Meaningful Use / Promoting Interoperability
The federal government has invested more than $35 billion to spur the implementation and adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) across the nation. There’s no question, with nearly all hospitals and the large majority of physicians having adopted these systems, that wide-spread implementation has been a success. However, there is growing consensus that the Meaningful Use program needs to evolve to better support patient care. The check-the-box approach to health IT is severely limiting innovation, frustrating caregivers and increasing costs, and is not the right approach to solving interoperability challenges. There are varying sets of requirements for different provider settings and clinician types, making compliance exceptionally complicated. CMS has called for some sizeable changes to the program in the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule and if finalized will change the program substantially.
CMS is also implementing new “Appropriate Use” of imaging requirements, though they have been delayed several times. Although mandated under law, they are not expected to be required until 2019.
CHIME Top Recommendations to Policymakers
Meaningful Use
- Synchronize the various sets of Meaningful Use requirements with the “Advancing Care Information” (ACI) performance category under the Merit-based Incentive-based Program (MIPS)
- Immediately remove the all-or-nothing program construct of the Meaningful Use program
- Permanently implement 90-day reporting periods for every program year as has been the case since 2014
CIO Cheat Sheets
- Proposed Summary of Changes to Promoting Interoperability Program for 2020 (May 2019)
- Future Direction of Promoting Interoperability Program After 2020 (May 2019)
- Comparison of Final Promoting Interop Requirements for Hospitals in 2019 and Proposed Ones for MIPS Clinicians in 2019 (Jan 2019)
- IPPS Proposed Rule – MU Changes (Apr 2018)
- IPPS CIO Cheat Sheet Final Rule for 2018 (Sep 2017)
- Meaningful Use Requirements for Medicare Hospitals, Medicaid Providers, and MIPS Eligible Clinicians – a Comparison Table (Dec 2017)*UPDATED Dec 1
- Appropriate Use Criteria Overview (Apr 2017)
Letters to the Administration
- CHIME Comment Letter to CMS on Proposed Changes to IPPS and the Promoting Interoperability Programs (Jun 2018)
- CHIME Comment Letter to CMS on the Proposed Physician Fee Schedule rule for 2018 (Sep 2017)
- Stakeholder Letter to CMS responding to Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule on telehealth (Sep 2017)
- CHIME Comment Letter on Proposed Year 2 of the QPP Program (Aug 2017)
- Stakeholder Letter to Secretary Price on Meaningful Use (Feb 2017)
- CHIME Regulatory Relief Asks of HHS Secretary Price (Feb 2017)
Congressional Letters & Testimony
- CHIME Letter of Support for the EHR Regulatory Relief Act of 2017 (Nov 2017)
- CHIME Response to Committee on Ways & Means Medicare to Medicare Red Tape Relief Project (Aug 2017)
- CHIME Chair-Elect Written Testimony before the House Committee on Energy & Commerce in Support of H.R. 3120 (Jul 2017)
- CHIME letter of support for H.R. 3120 that removes Meaningful Use ‘escalation clause’ (Jul 2017)