For providers unable to demonstrate meaningful use under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs due to "extreme and/or uncontrollable circumstances" may now apply for exemption from payment adjustment.
CMS specifically notes a change in EHR vendor as one reason a provider may apply for the hardship exception. Its website also states that using an EHR that was decertified to attest to MU is acceptable, as long as the provider's respective reporting period ended before decertification occurred. Otherwise, providers using decertified EHRs may apply for the exemption.
"The AHA welcomes this change in policy and has advocated for this exception since the meaningful use program began," Chantal Worzala, AHA director of policy, said in a statement. "We would like to better understand, however, the duration of this important protection, since it can take multiple years to fully and successfully transition from one EHR to another."