This is Part 2 of our Three-part Blog Series, “Changes for 2016 and 2017” which describes the realignment of Stage 1 and Stage 2 objectives into a single measure set for 2016 and 2017.
Meaningful Use was introduced as part of the HITECH Act as a means to encourage healthcare providers to adopt electronic health records, and also begin to shift to additional quality care metrics. Yet, since Meaningful Use began in 2011, there have been many critics who assert that the program does not achieve the “meaning” in Meaningful Use. As a result, there have been multiple iterations of the rule and the various stages. We will present to you the latest changes that you need to know in this Three-part blog post series.
Part two of the series, “Changes for 2016-2017” describes the realignment of Stage 1 and Stage 2 objectives into a single measure set for 2016 and 2017. You can view Part One of our series, “Changes for 2015” here.
Realignment of Stage 1 and Stage 2, or “Modified Stage 2”
As an effort to realign and prepare providers for Stage 3 of Meaningful Use, CMS has created a “Modified Stage 2.” All Providers on track to attest to Stage 1 or Stage 2 in 2016 and 2017 will attest to this combined set of ten objectives.
2016 and 2017 for “Modified Stage 2” are Full Year Reporting Periods
See the detailed chart below for a summary for the “Modified Stage 2” Objectives. CMS is continuing complete year reporting periods (for providers beyond their first year of attestation) for 2016 and 2017, despite offering a 90-day reporting period for 2015. The thought behind the longer reporting period is that CMS has adjusted many of the Meaningful Use measures to make them more attainable for many providers. With more exclusions and the updates to some existing measures, CMS believes that the updated objective set is achievable for providers over a calendar year.
Optional Stage 3 in 2017
In 2014, CMS allowed providers who were slated to attest to Stage 2 a flexible year where they could attest to Stage 1 again if they wished. Similarly, CMS is doing the same thing for Stage 3 Meaningful Use by allowing providers the option of attesting to Stage 3 in 2017. A huge benefit of participating in Stage 3 in 2017 is the provision that it will only be a 90 day reporting period for those participating providers. When Stage 3 is required for all provides in 2018 (see Part Three in our Blog Post series next week about this topic!), a calendar year reporting period will be required. The optional year in 2017 will allow providers to “test the waters” with a shorter reporting period and begin preparing for Stage 3 before they are required to implement it.
“Modified Stage 2” Objectives Summary
| Objective 1 | Protect Patient Health Information | Conduct a Security Risk Analysis within the Reporting Period (RP) |
|---|---|---|
| Objective 2 | Clinical Decision Support | 1 – Implement five Clinical Decision Support Rules related to four or more Clinical Quality Measures |
| 2 – Enable Drug-Drug and Drug-Allergy interaction checks for the entire RP
Exclusion: Eligible Providers (EP) who write less than 100 prescriptions during the RP |
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| Objective 3 | Computerized Provider Order Entry | 1 – More than 60% of Medication orders during the RP are created through CPOE
Exclusion: Any EP who writes fewer than 100 prescriptions during the RP |
| 2 – More than 30% of lab orders during the RP are created through CPOE
Exclusion: Any EP who orders fewer than 100 lab orders during the RP or scheduled to be in Stage 1 during the 2016 RP |
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| 3 – More than 30% of radiology orders during the RP are created through CPOE
Exclusion: Any EP who orders fewer than 100 radiology orders during the RP or scheduled to be in Stage 1 during the 2016 RP |
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| Objective 4 | Electronic Prescribing | More than 50% of permissible prescriptions are queried for a drug formulary and transmitted electronically
Exclusions: Any EP who writes fewer than 100 prescriptions within the RP or does not have a pharmacy that accepts electronic prescriptions within 10 miles of the organization |
| Objective 5 | Health Information Exchange | An EP who transitions their patient to another setting of care must use Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) to create a summary of care record and electronically transmit the summary to the receiving provider for more than 10% of transitions of care
Exclusion: Any EP who transitions a patient to another setting of care less than 100 times in the RP |
| Objective 6 | Patient Specific Education | More than 10% of patients seen by the EP in the RP receive patient specific education resources that were identified by the CEHRT
Exclusion: Any EP who has no office visits in the RP |
| Objective 7 | Medication Reconciliation | The EP performs medication reconciliation for more than 50% of transitions of care in which the patient is transitioned into the care of EP
Exclusion: Any EP who was not the recipient of any transitions of care during the RP |
| Objective 8 | Patient Electronic Access (V/D/T) | 1 – More than 50% of unique patients seen by the EP during the RP are provided timely access to view online, download, or transmit their health records
Exclusions: Any EP who neither orders nor created any of the information listed for inclusion of the measures or conducts more than 50% of their encounters in a county that does not have 50% or more of its housing units with 4Mbps broadband availability on the first day of the RP |
| 2 – 2016: At least one patient seen by EP in the RP views online, downloads, or electronically transmits their health information.
2017: More than 5% of unique patients seen by the EP during the RP views online, downloads, or electronically transmits their health information. Exclusions: Any EP who neither orders nor created any of the information listed for inclusion of the measures or conducts more than 50% of their encounters in a county that does not have 50% or more of its housing units with 4Mbps broadband availability on the first day of the RP |
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| Objective 9 | Secure Messaging | 2016: At least one patient seen by the EP during the RP sent an electronic message using the secure messaging feature of CEHRT
2017: More than 5% of unique patients seen by the EP during the RP sent an electronic message using the secure messaging feature of CEHRT |
| Objective 10 | Public Health Reporting | Must meet two of the three measures in 2016 and 2017 |
| 1 – Immunization Registry
Exclusions: An EP who does not administer immunizations in the RP, operates in a jurisdiction where no immunization registry has declared readiness or is capable of accepting immunizations aligned with the CEHRT definition |
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| 2 – Syndromic Surveillance Registry
Exclusions: An EP who is not in a category of providers from which ambulatory syndromic surveillance data is collected or operates in a jurisdiction that is not capable or ready to collect syndromic surveillance data |
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| 3 – Specialized Registry
Exclusions: An EP who does not diagnose or treat any condition associated with a specialized registry |
See us back here next Friday for Part Three of this Blog Series which will focus specifically on Stage 3.
Still confused? Do you need one-on-one guidance regarding your organization? We can help! Please contact our Meaningful Use Expert, Kathryn Ayers Wickenhauser (Kathryn.Wickenhauser@ScanSTATTechnologies.com) for guidance about how these changes impact you.