Eligible Professionals: Stage 1 Meaningful Use Overview
For EPs who attested to A/I/U in 2011 and are seeking to achieve meaningful use in the five years following, see this standard timeline for an overview of the program schedule. The standard payment timeline is applicable to EPs choosing this schedule, although pediatricians with less than 30% Medicaid patient volume are not eligible for the full incentive payments. For EPs beginning the program in 2012 and intending on pursuing meaningful use without skipping years, see the 2012 standard timeline and payment timeline.
To achieve Stage 1 Meaningful Use, eligible professionals (EPs) must successfully attest to meaningful use measures that draw from the use of certified EHR technology. The criteria describe implemented functions of EHR systems as well as the calculation of patient-related data that can be reported by the EHR systems.
EPs are required to achieve Stage 1 Meaningful Use in the two payment years following the adoption, implementation, or upgrading of certified EHR technology. For an EP's first year achieving meaningful use, or Payment Year 2 following adoption, implementation, or upgrading (A/I/U) in Payment Year 1, meaningful use is reported for any 90 consecutive days in the calendar year. The second year of meaningful use requires that the full calendar year serve as the reporting period. The shorter 90 day requirement is valuable in providing time to EPs to adapt clinical workflows and improve practices to achieve the meaningful use objectives in preparation for an uninterrupted reporting period of one year.
Familiarity with the meaningful use criteria is fundamental to successful attestation as achieving the objectives requires prudent planning. The criteria for Stage 1 Meaningful Use are described in three parts: core measures, menu measures, and clinical quality measures. Below are links to the technical specifications for each measure, and CMS' Meaningful Use Calculator is an excellent resource for later testing projected and real data.
Stage 1 Meaningful Use Criteria for Eligible Professionals
EPs must attest to each of the 15 core measures, though exclusions can be claimed on certain measures.
EPs must choose five of the ten menu measures, including one public health measure. As syndromic surveillance cannot be submitted by eligible professionals in Tennessee at this time, the immunization registry is the appropriate public health option unless a professional qualifies for an exclusion.
EPs must attest to the three core clinical quality measures, or if those are inapplicable, the three alternate core measures. EPs must choose three additional measures from the list of 38.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about meaningful use after viewing these webpages, please e-mail EHRMeaningfulUse.TennCare@tn.gov.
