Would You Like to Comment on Proposed Changes to the EHR Incentive Programs?

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would like to hear from you on the FY 2018 Inpatient Prospective Payment System and Long Term Acute Care Hospital Proposed Rule by June 13, 2017.

Click here to read the FY 2018 Inpatient Prospective Payment System and Long Term Acute Care Hospital Proposed Rule.

Submit a Formal Comment by 5:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 13

The public can submit comments in several ways:

• By electronic submission through the “submit a formal comment” instructions on the Federal Register
• By regular mail
• By express or overnight mail
• By hand or courier

The proposed rule includes potential changes to the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, including:

• For CY 2018, modifying the EHR reporting period from the full calendar year to a minimum of any continuous 90-day period for new and returning participants in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive programs.
• Adding a new exception from the Medicare payment adjustments for Eligible Professionals (EPs), Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals that demonstrate through an application process that complying with the requirement for being a meaningful EHR user is not possible if ONC’s Health IT Certification Program has decertified their certified EHR technology.
• Implementing a policy in which no payment adjustments will be made for EPs who furnish “substantially all” of their covered professional services in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC); applicable for the 2017 and 2018 Medicare payment adjustments.
• Using Place of Service (POS) code 24 to identify services furnished in an ASC as well as requesting public comment on whether other POS codes or mechanisms should be used to identify sites of service in addition to or in lieu of POS code 24.

To learn more, review the proposed rule and visit the CMS website.