Meaningful Use in 2016

Another year, another change to the Meaningful Use program.
Is it just me or does it feel like every week brings a new update to the MU program?
Well let me break down the FINAL requirements for MU in 2016 (for now).

Reporting Periods

• All RETURNING participants need to report a FULL CALENDAR YEAR.
• All FIRST-TIME participants need to report any continuous 90-day period.

ATTESTATION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 28, 2017

OBJECTIVES

There are 10 of them. And that is the one thing that hasn’t changed since the final rule was released last October.

1. Protected Patient Health Information. AKA: get your SRA done. No excuses.
2. Clinical Decision Support Rule. Stage 2 needs 5. Stage 1 needs 1.
3. Computerized Provider Order Entry. Meds, Labs, Radiology.
4. Electronic Prescribing. Lock away the prescription pads for emergency use only!
5. Health Information Exchange. Start sending your patient summaries electronically.
6. Patient Education. Start giving your patients education on EVERYTHING and ANYTHING you can.
7. Medication Reconciliation. I mean, this is just good practice of medicine (no matter how annoying the extra clicks are).
8. Patient Electronic Access. Sign every single person up for the portal. Plaster the portal address everywhere in your office and print it on every sheet of paper given to the patients IN BOLD. Do whatever you have to do to get these patients logged into the portal.
9. Secure Messaging. Start sending out monthly messages to your patients regarding their health.
10. Public Health Reporting. This is a whole other can of worms.

See the CMS tip sheet here.

As always – HAPPY REPORTING!