At last, on 10/6/2015 CMS released the text of the Meaningful Use Rule for 2015 and beyond, in advance of the scheduled publication date which is 10/16/2015. The slow pace of finalizing this rule has caused uncertainty and anxiety at provider organizations nationwide.
Providers who had planned their 2015 compliance based on the draft rule published on 4/15/2015 can breathe a sigh of relief. The 2015 requirements in the final rule are essentially the same as published in the draft rule, and include the 90 day reporting period for 2015.
Senator Lamar Alexander threatened to introduce legislation in 2016 that will delay Meaningful Use Stage 3.”
Most providers will be focused on 2015 compliance requirements. A concise listing of the Objectives and Measures was prepared by Eagle Consulting Partners and is available here.
The major changes contained in this regulation are:
Get the concise Objectives and Measures for Meaningful Use — 2015-2017 from Eagle (click to download PDF).
- For 2015 only, the reporting period for all providers is 90 days. Beginning in 2016, all participants will be required to report for the first year, except new entrants to the program, who will have a 90 day period during their first year.
- All providers will attest using Stage 2 for 2015-2016. Stage 1 is eliminated, although providers previously scheduled to attest to Stage 1 will have special accommodations during 2015. In 2017 Providers will have the option of attesting to Stage 2 or Stage 3. Beginning 2018, all providers, including new entrants, will be required to attest using the Stage 3 rules which will be the final stage for meaningful use.
- Stage 2 is restructured from 17 core objectives and 6 menu set objectives to a simplified 10 required objectives. A number of these objectives and measures have been simplified and additional exclusions have been added.
- All providers are required to use Certified EHR Technology based on the 2nd generation, “2014 Standards”. Providers will need to upgrade to new capabilities for the 3rd generation, “2015 Standards” in order to progress to Stage 3.
- The original penalty scheme for not being a meaningful user will be sunseted effective 2018. Separate legislation, MACRA, introduces a new incentive system called MIPS which will consolidate meaningful use, PQRS, and new incentive systems into a single system which will be introduced in 2019.
A copy of the complete text of the regulations is available here (PDF).
Opposition to Stage 3 in Congress, led by Republican Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, is certain to continue. Alexander and a group of over 100 from Congress lobbied the OMB to delay and/or change the Stage 3 rules, and immediately after the rule release, lambasted HHS for not heeding his request to delay Stage 3. Alexander expressed his ongoing opposition and threatened to introduce legislation in 2016 that will delay Stage 3.
Editor’s Note: Subsequent to the publication of this article, CMS has renamed the “Meaningful Use” programs and MIPS “Advancing Care Information” category to “Promoting Interoperability”.
