A reminder was recently issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that eligible hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) using the Electronic Health Record Incentive Schemes must employ the QualityNet Secure Portal (QNet) to submit Meaningful Use attestations this year.
Previously in October, CMS revelead it was changing Meaningful Use attestations to QNet. Before two separate systems had been employed for attestations and reporting clinical quality measures; but, in order to streamline reporting requirements and streamline data submissions, the QNet portal would be implemented for both from January 2nd 2018.
From October 2018, eligible hospitals and CAHs new to QNet had the chance to enlist on the system and get used to how it operated, while current QNet users were advised to add an MU role to their subscriptions. From the start of this month, the QNet system opened for attestations relating to 2017. The attestation period ends on February 28th.
Medicare and Medicaid Hospitals Require Different Procedures
Although trying to simplify the reporting requirements, the new system has resulted in some confusion about the different procedures for Medicare-eligible and Medicaid-eligible hospitals. This has lead to CMS to send out a reminder detailing the different procedure for each type of incentive program. From January 2nd 2018:
- Medicare-eligible hospitals and qualifying Critical Access Hospitals will employ the QNet process as outlined above to submit Meaningful Use attestations.
- Medicaid-only hospitals and CAHs need to refresh their registration through the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Registration and Attestation System and coordinate with their respective State Medicaid agencies so they can file their Meaningful Use attestations.
- Dually eligible hospitals and CAHs (both first-time participants and second-time participants) will have to register or bring up to date their registration with both QNet and the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Registration and Attestation System.
- Medicaid-only clinicians should liaise with their respective State Medicaid agencies to file Meaningful Use Attestation, while Medicare Part B clinicians eligible to take part in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) should visit qpp.cms.gov for more details on this.