News

Meaningful Use Hardship Exemption Period Reopened

By Elizabeth Snell

- In an effort to relieve more physicians who are struggling to meet reporting mandates, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced earlier this week that it reopened the meaningful use hardship exemption period.

Eligible physicians (EP) and hospitals (EH) will now have until November 30 to apply for a meaningful use hardship exception. The previous deadline was April 1 for hospitals and July 1 for physicians.

Not all providers had to apply for hardship exceptions, if they were able to meet other criteria. This included that the new provider – hospital or physician – was in their first year or that the eligible professional was hospital based. Additionally, a provider did not have to apply for exceptions “in which 90 percent of their claims include Place of Service 21, Place of Service 23 and certain observation services using Place of Service 22.” Lastly, eligible professionals that have certain PECOS specialties (05-Anesthesiology, 22-Pathology, 30-Diagnostic Radiology, 36-Nuclear Medicine, 94-Interventional Radiology) six months prior to the first day of the payment adjustments did not have to apply for exceptions.

The American Medical Association (AMA) was especially pleased with the announcement, and said that the change will help more physicians “avoid an unfair Meaningful Use financial penalty in 2015.”

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  • “The AMA remains committed, however, to ensuring that the Meaningful Use program requirements are in fact meaningful and deliver the intended improvements in patient care and practice efficiencies,” AMA President Robert M. Wah, MD said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work with the Administration to make the program requirements more flexible and ensure physicians have certified products that better support their practices and patients’ needs.”

    The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) had a mixed reaction about the announcement. CHIME Director of Public Policy Jeff Smith explained that it’s essentially “a wash” because policymakers are making a policy to correct a problem they should have seen coming.

    Additionally, while a meaningful use hardship exception gives providers the ability to avoid penalties, it also deprives them of a significant financial opportunity. That could potentially offset the EHR adoption cost because it represents the biggest sum providers receive.

    The CMS announcement comes nearly one week after the federal agency said that it had received approximately 44,000 hardship exemption applications.

    “This is the first time we’re announcing this number as we have been working through the applications and notifying each individual provider of their status,” CMS said in an email. “The vast majority are of first timers in 2014 experiencing issues with their CEHRT.”

    Since the majority of requests are from first-timers, the seemingly lag in providers being EHR vendor ready could be affecting new customers more harshly than those simply upgrading to a newer edition. As of yet, CMS has said how many applications will receive relief.

    Moreover, CMS finalized a rule earlier this year to give providers more flexibility in meaningful use reporting for 2014. This could also ensure participation in the program.