Well folks, if you are planning on reporting MIPS for the 2019 payment year, the time has finally come that we are being forced to upgrade to a 2015 certified version of your electronic health record. So, how does one go about upgrading the version and what does this mean for staff workflow within the EHR?
First, check with your IT Company to see if they can offer any assistance in your upgrade. Typically, IT companies will have a better handle on your upgrade and offer more assistance than the EHR vendor themselves. *Hint: eMedapps customers, we’ve got you on this one. Open a ticket with support today to upgrade if you haven’t already.*
If you don’t have an IT company that you work with, contact your EHR vendor to find out what the next steps are to get the new version of your EHR into production. Plan ahead for this as EHR vendors have hundreds of thousands of clients they need to upgrade before the deadline.
Second, review all of the changes that will be made from the old version to the new version and review these with all of your staff. The smoothest upgrades result from the best preparation. Your IT company or software vendor will have training material for you to review.
Lastly, adjust your clinic schedule to a lighter patient load in the first few days after your upgrade. Even if your staff has reviewed all of the training material and used the new workflow on test patients, they will need time to adjust to the new workflow in a live clinic setting.
If upgrading is not an option for you this year, contact CMS to find out if any exclusions apply to you. There are deadlines to apply for exclusions so I recommend doing this sooner rather than later.
