Last month, we observed that the medical community has come to understand the importance of achieving meaningful use of their electronic health record. Unfortunately, the specifics of what needs to be reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services remain a source of confusion and anxiety for many physicians. To allay this anxiety as much as possible, we’ve been discussing the details of achieving and reporting on meaningful use.
Dr. Neil Skolnik and Dr. Chris Notte
The elements of meaningful use that must be achieved are divided into two areas: a set of 15 core objectives (all of which must be achieved), and a set of 10 additional "menu" measures (from which a practice can select the measures they will submit). The measures are described by their objectives and the ways each of those objectives are measured.
Last month, we listed the core measures, and in this month’s column, we list the additional menu measures. Providers must fill out 5 of the 10 menu measures, of which at least one must be a public health measure.
In general, most physicians have found the menu items to be a bit more intimidating than the core measures.
It is important to recognize that a provider needs to choose and attest to only five of the menu items, though one of those must be chosen from the first two listed in our table (immunization or syndromic data reporting). Within the remaining four menu measures, there is a defined percentage of the time that the objectives need to be met.
It is acknowledged that these menu items are more of a "reach" for most providers than are the core items discussed in last month’s column, so the goal for achieving each is much more modest.
It is also important to recognize that there are resources that physicians can access for help in understanding and meeting the meaningful use criteria. These resources are available through your certified EHR vendor, online, and through in-person consultations.
Most certified EHR vendors have modules to help physicians learn how to use their particular EHR to report on meaningful use requirements, and many have "dashboards" that report in real time how the provider is doing in meeting each particular measure.
Online, the CMS website has modules that define specifically what is needed and how it should be reported.
Finally, many states, through federal grants, have instituted the REACH regional consultation programs to help physicians understand how to evaluate and purchase the correct EHR for their practice, and once they have an EHR in place, how to go about reporting on meaningful use.
References
• Eligible Professional Attestation Worksheet for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program.
• Eligible Professional Meaningful Use Table of Contents Core and Menu Set Objectives.
Dr. Skolnik is associate director of the family medicine residency program at Abington (Pa.) Memorial Hospital and professor of family and community medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia. He is also editor in chief of Redi-Reference, a software company that creates medical handheld references. Dr. Notte is in private practice in Chalfont, Pa. They are partners in EHR Practice Consultants, helping practices move to EHR systems. Contact them at info@ehrpc.com.