2014 REGULATORY CHANGES
MEAN BIG CHANGES FOR SOME,
SMALL CHANGES FOR OTHERS
Maria S. Hardy, IMA (ASCP)
Technical Writer, COLA Resources, Inc. (CRI)
M
criteria in this article. When fully functional and
exchangeable, the benefits of EHRs offer far
more than a paper record can.
Electronic Health Records/Electronic
Medical Records:
• Improve quality and convenience of
patient care
• Increase patient participation in their care
• Improve accuracy of diagnoses and health
outcomes
• Improve care coordination
• Increase practice efficiencies and cost
savings
Beginning in 2014, the reporting of clinical
quality measures (CQMs) has changed for all
providers. EHR technology that has been
certified to the 2014 standards and
capabilities will contain new CQM criteria, and
eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals,
and critical access hospitals (CAHs) will report
using the new 2014 criteria regardless of
whether they are participating in Stage 1 or
Stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid
Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive
Programs. Although CQM reporting has been
removed as a core objective for both EPs and
eligible hospitals and CAHs, all providers are
required to report on CQMs in order to
demonstrate meaningful use.
The following are CMS communications
regarding CQMs for 2014.
any Physician Office
Laboratories (POL’s) have
begun the transition from
the paper, old recordkeeping system to the new,
streamlined electronic health or medical
records systems. This migration has been
encouraged in many cases due to the U.S.
Government’s financial support programs that
offer incentives for healthcare facilities to
make the change. One challenge has been the
evolution of technology often moves faster
than the speed of legislation, implementation
and general understanding of the process.
The regulatory process regarding EHR/EMR
has always been turtle-like in its conception
and implementation. At each stage of
updating and in some cases upgrading a
practice’s EHR/EMR it is always prudent to
determine not only where the next step will
lead, but also what is required for compliance.
If a physician’s practice accepts patients
under Medicare, Medicaid, or is part of an ACO
there has probably been much discussion
about Meaningful Use (MU), Measurable
Outcomes and EHR/EMR. Accountable Care
Organizations (ACOs) are groups of doctors,
hospitals, and other health care providers, who
come together voluntarily to give coordinated
high quality care to their Medicare patients.
With this coordination comes the necessity for
documentation. Documentation not only
drives the method of care delivery but also the
financial aspect of patient care. The 2014
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS) Clinical Quality Measures have been
published and we will review some important
2014 and Beyond
For 2014, CMS is not requiring the submission
of a core set of CQMs. Instead we identify two
recommended core sets of CQMs, one for
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