Meaningful Use Requirements for 2018
December 21, 2017
Written by Patty Kosednar
As 2017 comes to an end, it is time to look at the Meaningful Use requirements for 2018. On August 2, 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that included changes to the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs for reporting year 2018. (Here is the CMS Fact Sheet that summarizes the final rule).
Following is a summary of the 2018 changes for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs:
Hospitals: Medicare and Medicaid Eligible Hospital Changes for 2018 Reporting Year:
- Hospitals can choose to report requirements for Modified Stage 2 or Stage 3 (your choice).
- You can use 2014, 2015 or a combination of 2014/2015 certified EHR technology.
- You must use 2015 or a combination of 2014/2015 certified EHR technology to report to Stage 3, 2014 certified EHR for Modified Stage 2.
- Core Objectives: the 2018 reporting period for core objectives (measures) will be a continuous 90-day period within the 2018 calendar year.
- Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs): the 2018 reporting period differs based by program and how you attest (more info on this below).
- You may report to both Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive programs if you are dually eligible.
- The MU objectives and performance requirements will be different between the Medicaid program and the Medicare program so be sure to check the CMS website for details on the specific measure requirements.
- Medicare EHR Incentive Program attestation will be done via QualityNet. Hospitals reporting to the Medicaid program will report via their State Level Registry. Read more about this in the blog dated 11/6.
CQMs for Medicare and Medicaid Eligible Hospital Changes for 2018 Reporting Year:
- For hospitals also reporting eCQMs (electronic clinical quality measures) via the CMS Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) program, the four eCQMs you report via the CMS IQR program will count for the Medicare EHR Incentive program.*
- For hospitals not reporting to the CMS IQR program but submitting their CQMs electronically for the Medicare EHR Incentive program, you will need to report on four eCQMs. The reporting period is one self-selected calendar quarter of data.
- For hospitals not reporting CQMs electronically or not participating in the IQR program, for the Medicare EHR Incentive program you will need to report on 16 CQMs. The reporting period is a full year of data (CY2018), unless it is your first year of participation in the program, then the reporting period is 90 days.*
*Some Medicaid requirements are determined by your State Medicaid office, so you’ll want to double check with your State Medicaid office to verify their specific criteria on CQM reporting. The above items have been confirmed as accurate by the Montana State Medicaid office.
Providers: Medicaid Eligible Professional Changes for 2018 Reporting Year:
- Providers can choose to report requirements for Modified Stage 2 or Stage 3 (your choice).
- You can use 2014, 2015 or a combination of 2014/2015 certified EHR technology.
- You must use 2015 or a combination of 2014/2015 certified EHR technology to report to Stage 3, 2014 certified EHR for Modified Stage 2.
- The reporting period for 2018 will be a continuous 90-day period within the 2018 calendar year.
- Along with the core measures you will need to report six clinical quality measures (it can be a different 90-day period and do not need to cross domains*).
- 2016 was the last year a provider could begin participation in the Medicaid EHR Incentive program.
*Some Medicaid requirements are determined by your State Medicaid office, so you’ll want to double check with your State Medicaid office to verify their specific criteria. The above items have been confirmed by the Montana State Medicaid office.
There were changes to other CMS programs (IQR, IPPS and LTCH payments, Hospital Readmissions and Acquired Conditions Reduction Programs, Hospital Value Based Purchasing Program, etc.) along with more details on the items listed above, so please be sure to read the full details on the CMS Fact Sheet.
If you have any questions, or run into issues with any of the meaningful use objectives and would like help, please use the “Leave a Reply” section below, or email Patty Kosednar directly with your questions or comments.
Other Resource Links
CMS 2017 MU Requirements
See all 2017 MU Blog Posts
See our MIPS Blog
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Marisela MA says
In order to document meaningful use requirements. Is proof needed at that time? Or can we document a measure and request records for proof? If we don’t have the proof right then an there. We miss the opportunity because we don’t have proof. Yet the patient says that had that measure done. But we still asked and requested proof.
Patricia Kosednar says
Marisela, I will contact you directly on this. I need a little more information on your question.