December 18, 2012 – On November 1, CMS issued an important update on 2013 Electronic Prescribing Payment Adjustment Hardship Exemptions pertaining to the EHR Medicare and Medicaid Incentive Program in the 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule.
The hardship categories are as follows:
- Eligible professionals who achieve meaningful use during certain eRX time frames. For the 2013 eRX payment adjustment, this will include any eligible professional who achieved meaningful use during January 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012 and has attested by January 31, 2013.
- Eligible professionals who demonstrate intent to participate in the EHR Incentive Program and adoption of Certified EHR Technology by registering for the EHR Incentive Program by January 31, 2013. Please note: EHR Incentive Program participants must provide their entire EHR Certification Number in the CMS EHR Certification ID field during registration to receive this hardship.
Eligible Professionals do not need to apply for these 2 hardship exemptions; they only need to register or attest for the EHR Incentive Program by January 31, 2013. If an eligible professional previously registered for the EHR Incentive Program but did not include the EHR certification number for their EHR product at that time, and has not yet achieved meaningful use, they need to go back and add that piece of information to their registration before January 31, 2013.
Eligible Professionals subject to the 2013 payment adjustment who qualify for one of the hardships related to Meaningful Use will not show a hardship approval on the payment adjustment file (PAF) right away. The affected TIN/NPI may receive a 1.5% eRx payment adjustment for dates-of -service in 2013 until CMS has those hardship approvals officially reflected on the 2013 eRx PAF. Once the 2013 payment adjustments are stopped for the affected TIN/NPI, the previously adjusted claims will be reprocessed by the Medicare Part B Contractor’s. There may be a lag time for this process to occur.
Register and attest for the EHR Incentive Program at the following link: https://ehrincentives.cms.gov/hitech/login.action
For questions relating to participation in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, please contact EHR Incentive Program Information Center at 888-734-6433 (TTY 888-734-6563).
For further details or questions regarding these new hardship exemptions, please visit http://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/FFSProvPartProg/Downloads/2012-11-08-Enews.pdf or contact the EHR Incentive Program Information Center at 888-734-6433.
MediSYS for Physicians understands the importance of keeping clients informed in all areas of Meaningful Use. CMS is constantly updating and revising pertinent information on their website so please refer to http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/ERxIncentive/20_Payment_Adjustment_Information.html frequently to review new information, as well as if you have questions through the FAQ section at https://questions.cms.gov/faq.php.
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Media Contact: Kelly Cannon [email protected] 205-631-5969