This document summarizes changes from the proposed rule to the final rule for Stage 1 of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program's meaningful use criteria. Key changes included lowering thresholds for some objectives, removing administrative transactions, adding new objectives, and modifying clinical quality measures requirements for eligible professionals. The final rule provided more flexibility for states and clarified various eligibility and reporting policies to fully implement the program in 2011.

1. Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Final Rule Implementing the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009

2. The Journey to Meaningful Use Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark. Rabindranath Tagore

3. Overview American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) – February 17, 2009 Medicare & Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) Display – December 30, 2009 Publication – January 13, 2010 Final Rule on Display – July 13 , 2010 Final Rule Published – July 28, 2010

4. What did not change in the final rule Adopted statutory provider eligibility and payment requirements Meaningful Use matrix goals remained the same. Hospital definition did not change. EPs will still be required to demonstrate MU individually Clinical quality measures reporting timeline will stay the same MU reporting period of 90 days for first year and one year thereafter.

5. What Changed from the NPRM to the Final Rule? Meaningful Use Criteria Clinical Quality Measures Hospital-based EPs Medicaid acute care hospitals Medicaid patient volume Removed reporting period for adopt, implement or upgrade (Medicaid) All programs will start in 2011 More clarification throughout

6. Changes to Provider Eligibility Due to recent legislation, hospital-based EPs are only those who see more than 90% of their patients in a hospital in-patient or ER setting Medicaid included critical access hospitals in its definition of “acute care hospital” (but incentive is like other acute care hospitals, not following the Medicare CAH formula)

7. Medicaid Patient Volume Medicaid EP participation hinges on patient volume requirements. Medicaid patient volume was significantly clarified Expanded definition of “encounter” to include any encounter for which Medicaid had any payment liability e.g. premiums, co-pays, waivers Allows States to define patient volume as just encounters or encounters plus patient panel (managed care), both or propose a new methodology

8. Meaningful Use: Process of Defining National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) hearings HIT Policy Committee (HITPC) recommendations Listening Sessions with providers/organizations Public comments on HITPC recommendations Comments received from the Department and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Revised based on public comments on the NPRM

9. Meaningful Use Stage 1 – Health Outcome Priorities* Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities Engage patients and families in their health care Improve care coordination Improve population and public health Ensure adequate privacy and security protections for personal health information *Adapted from National Priorities Partnership. National Priorities and Goals: Aligning Our Efforts to Transform America’s Healthcare. Washington, DC: National Quality Forum; 2008.

10. Meaningful Use: Changes from the NPRM to the Final Rule NPRM Final Rule Meet all MU reporting objectives Must meet “core set”/can defer 5 from optional “menu set” 25 measures for EPs/23 measures for eligible hospitals 25 measures for EPs/24 for eligible hospitals Measure thresholds range from 10% to 80% of patients or orders (most at higher range) Measure thresholds range from 10% to 80% of patients or orders (most at lower to middle range) Denominators – To calculate the threshold, some measures required manual chart review Denominators – No measures require manual chart review to calculate threshold Administrative transactions (claims and eligibility) included Administrative transactions removed Measures for Patient-Specific Education Resources and Advanced Directives discussed but not proposed Measures for Patient-Specific Education Resources and Advanced Directives (for hospitals) included

11. Meaningful Use: Changes from the NPRM to the Final Rule, cont’d NPRM Final Rule States could propose requirements above/beyond MU floor, but not with additional EHR functionality States’ flexibility with Stage 1 MU is limited to seeking CMS approval to require 4 public health-related objectives to be core instead of menu Core clinical quality measures (CQM) and specialty measure groups for EPs Modified Core CQM and removed specialty measure groups for EPs 90 CQM total for EPs 44 CQM total for EPs – must report total of 6 35 CQM total for eligible hospitals and 8 alternate Medicaid CQM 15 CQM total for eligible hospitals 5 CQM overlap with CHIPRA initial core set 4 CQM overlap with CHIPRA initial core set

12. How were MU Core Objectives Selected? Overarching considerations Statutory requirements-e.g.- e-prescribing, CQM, health information exchange Foundational objectives-e.g. privacy and security and those that provide foundational data needed for other measures, like demographics, medication lists, etc. Patient-centered Patient access- e.g. clinical summaries Patient safety-e.g.-drug-drug and drug-allergy features) Part of providers’ “normal” practice Looked at how the objectives aligned Feedback received from HIT Policy Committee and commenters

13. Meaningful Use: Denominators Two types of percentage based measures are included to address the burden of demonstrating MU Denominator is all patients seen or admitted during the EHR reporting period The denominator is all patients regardless of whether their records are kept using certified EHR technology Denominator is actions or subsets of patients seen or admitted during the EHR reporting period

14. Meaningful Use: Applicability of Objectives and Measures Some MU objectives are not applicable to every provider’s clinical practice, thus they would not have any eligible patients or actions for the measure denominator. In these cases, the EP, eligible hospital or CAH would be excluded from having to meet that measure Ex: Dentists who do not perform immunizations; Chiropractors do not e-prescribe The denominator only includes patients, or actions taken on behalf of those patients, whose records are kept using certified EHR technology

15. How were the Thresholds Selected 80%-Objective part of standard practice-e.g.-maintain active medication list Others-defined on a case-by-case basis based on commenter or clearance feedback Example-e-prescribing set at 40% lowered from 75% to address concerns by commenters regarding non-participation by pharmacies and patient preference.

16. Meaningful Use – Stage 1 Core Set Health Outcomes Policy Priority Stage 1 Objective Stage 1 Measure Improving quality, safety, efficiency, and reducing health disparities Use CPOE for medication orders directly entered by any licensed healthcare professional who can enter orders into the medical record per state, local, and professional guidelines More than 30% of unique patients with at least one medication in their medication list seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH have at least one medication entered using CPOE Implement drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks The EP/eligible hospital/CAH has enabled this functionality for the entire EHR reporting period EP Only: Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically (eRx) More than 40% of all permissible prescriptions written by the EP are transmitted electronically using certified EHR technology Record demographics: preferred language, gender, race, ethnicity, date of birth, and date and preliminary cause of death in the event of mortality in the eligible hospital or CAH More than 50% of all unique patients seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH have demographics as recorded structured data Maintain up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses More than 80% of all unique patients seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH have at least one entry or an indication that no problems are known for the patient recorded as structured data

17. Meaningful Use – Stage 1 Core Set, cont’d Health Outcomes Policy Priority Stage 1 Objective Stage 1 Measure Improving quality, safety, efficiency, and reducing health disparities Maintain active medication list More than 80% of all unique patents seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH have at least one entry (or an indication that the patient is not currently prescribed any medication) recorded as structured data Maintain active medication allergy list More than 80% of all unique patents seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH have at least one entry (or an indication that the patient has no known medication allergies) recorded as structured data Record and chart vital signs: height, weight, blood pressure, calculate and display BMI, plot and display growth charts for children 2-20 years, including BMI For more than 50% of all unique patients age 2 and over seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH, height, weight, and blood pressure are recorded as structured data Record smoking status for patients 13 years old or older More than 50% of all unique patients 13 years or older seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH have smoking status recorded as structured data Implement one clinical decision support rule and the ability to track compliance with the rule Implement one clinical decision support rule Report clinical quality measures to CMS or the States For 2011, provide aggregate numerator, denominator, and exclusions through attestation; For 2012, electronically submit clinical quality measures

18. Meaningful Use – Stage 1 Core Set, cont’d Health Outcomes Policy Priority Stage 1 Objective Stage 1 Measure Engage patients and families in their healthcare Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information (including diagnostic test results, problem list, medication lists, medication allergies, discharge summary, procedures), upon request More than 50% of all unique patients of the EP, eligible hospital or CAH who request an electronic copy of their health information are provided it within 3 business days Hospitals Only: Provide patients with an electronic copy of their discharge instructions at time of discharge, upon request More than 50% of all patients who are discharged from an eligible hospital or CAH who request an electronic copy of their discharge instructions are provided it EPs Only: Provide clinical summaries for each office visit Clinical summaries provided to patients for more than 50% of all office visits within 3 business days Improve care coordination Capability to exchange key clinical information (ex: problem list, medication list, medication allergies, diagnostic test results), among providers of care and patient authorized entities electronically Performed at least one test of the certified EHR technology’s capacity to electronically exchange key clinical information Ensure adequate privacy and security protections for personal health information Protect electronic health information created or maintained by certified EHR technology through the implementation of appropriate technical capabilities Conduct or review a security risk analysis per 45 CFR 164.308(a)(1) and implement updates as necessary and correct identified security deficiencies as part of the EP’s, eligible hospital’s or CAH’s risk management process

19. Meaningful Use – Stage 1 Menu Set Health Outcomes Policy Priority Stage 1 Objective Stage 1 Measure Improving quality, safety, efficiency, and reducing health disparities Implement drug-formulary checks The EP/eligible hospital/CAH has enabled this functionality and has access to at least one internal or external drug formulary for the entire EHR reporting period Hospitals Only: Record advance directives for patients 65 years old or older More than 50% of all unique patients 65 years old or older admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH have an indication of an advance directive status recorded Incorporate clinical lab-test results into certified EHR technology as structured data More than 40% of all clinical lab test results ordered by the EP, or an authorized provider of the eligible hospital or CAH, for patients admitted during the EHR reporting period whose results are either in a positive/negative or numerical format are incorporated in certified EHR technology as structured data Generate lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research or outreach Generate at least one report listing patients of the EP, eligible hospital or CAH with a specific condition EPs Only: Send reminders to patients per patient preference for preventive/follow-up care More than 20% of all unique patients 65 years or older or 5 years old or younger were sent an appropriate reminder during the EHR reporting period

20. Meaningful Use – Stage 1 Menu Set, cont’d Health Outcomes Policy Priority Stage 1 Objective Stage 1 Measure Engage patients and families in their health care EPs Only: Provide patients with timely electronic access to their health information (including lab results, problem list, medication lists, medication allergies) within 4 business days of the information being available to the EP More than 10% of all unique patients seen by the EP are provided timely (available to the patient within 4 business days of being updated in the certified EHR technology) electronic access to their health information subject to the EP’s discretion to withhold certain information Use certified EHR technology to identify patient-specific education resources and provide those resources to the patient, if appropriate More than 10% of all unique patients seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH are provided patient-specific education resources Improve care coordination The EP, eligible hospital or CAH who receives a patient from another setting of care or provider of care or believes an encounter is relevant should perform medication reconciliation The EP, eligible hospital or CAH performs medication reconciliation for more than 50% of transitions of care in which the patient is transitioned into the care of the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital or CAH The EP, eligible hospital or CAH who receives a patient from another setting of care or provider of care or refers their patient to another provider of care should provide a summary of care record for each transition of care or referral The EP, eligible hospital or CAH who transitions or refers their patient to another setting of care or provider of care provides a summary of care record for more than 50% of transitions of care and referrals

21. Meaningful Use – Stage 1 Menu Set, cont’d 1 Unless an EP, eligible hospital or CAH has an exception for all of these objectives and measures they must complete at least one as part of their demonstration of the menu set in order to be a meaningful EHR user. Health Outcomes Policy Priority Stage 1 Objective Stage 1 Measure Improve population and public health 1 Capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries or Immunization Information Systems and actual submission in accordance with applicable law and practice Performed at least one test of the certified EHR technology’s capacity to submit electronic data to immunization registries and follow-up submission if the test is successful (unless none of the immunization registries to which the EP, eligible hospital or CAH submits such information have the capacity to receive such information electronically) Hospitals Only: Capability to submit electronic data on reportable (as required by state or local law) lab results to public health agencies and actual submission in accordance with applicable law and practice Performed at least one test of certified EHR technology’s capacity to provide submission of reportable lab results to public health agencies and follow-up submission if the test is successful (unless none of the public health agencies to which the EP, eligible hospital or CAH submits such information have the capacity to receive such information electronically) Capability to submit electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies and actual submission in accordance with applicable law and practice Performed at least one test of certified EHR technology’s capacity to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies and follow-up submission if the test is successful (unless none of the public health agencies to which the EP, eligible hospital or CAH submits such information have the capacity to receive such information electronically)

22. Future Stages Intend to propose 2 additional Stages through future rulemaking. Future Stages will expand upon Stage 1 criteria. Stage 1 menu set will be transitioned into core set for Stage 2 Administrative transactions will be added CPOE measurement will go to 60% Will reevaluate other measures – possibly higher thresholds Stage 3 will be further defined in next rulemaking

23. States’ Flexibility to Revise Meaningful Use States can seek CMS prior approval to require 4 MU objectives be core for their Medicaid providers: Generate lists of patients by specific conditions for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research or outreach (can specify particular conditions) Reporting to immunization registries, reportable lab results and syndromic surveillance (can specify for their providers how to test the data submission and to which specific destination)

24. MU for Hospitals that Qualify for Both Medicare & Medicaid Payments Applies to sub-section (d) and acute care hospitals Attest/Report on Meaningful Use to CMS for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program Will be deemed meaningful users for Medicaid (even if the State has CMS approval for the MU flexibility around public health objectives)

25. Clinical Quality Measures (CQM) Overview 2011 – EPs, eligible hospitals and CAHs seeking to demonstrate Meaningful Use are required to submit aggregate CQM numerator, denominator, and exclusion data to CMS or the States by attestation.

26. Meaningful Use for EPs who Work at Multiple Sites An EP who works at multiple locations, but does not have certified EHR technology available at all of them would: Have to have 50% of their total patient encounters at locations where certified EHR technology is available Would base all meaningful use measures only on encounters that occurred at locations where certified EHR technology is available 2012 – EPs, eligible hospitals and CAHs seeking to demonstrate Meaningful Use are required to electronically submit aggregate CQM numerator, denominator, and exclusion data to CMS or the States.

27. CQM: Eligible Professionals Core, Alternate Core, and Additional CQM sets for EPs EPs must report on 3 required core CQM, and if the denominator of 1or more of the required core measures is 0, then EPs are required to report results for up to 3 alternate core measures EPs also must select 3 additional CQM from a set of 38 CQM (other than the core/alternate core measures) In sum, EPs must report on 6 total measures: 3 required core measures (substituting alternate core measures where necessary) and 3 additional measures

28. CQM: Core Set for EPs NQF Measure Number & PQRI Implementation Number Clinical Quality Measure Title NQF 0013 Hypertension: Blood Pressure Measurement NQF 0028 Preventive Care and Screening Measure Pair: a) Tobacco Use Assessment b) Tobacco Cessation Intervention NQF 0421 PQRI 128 Adult Weight Screening and Follow-up

29. CQM: Alternate Core Set for EPs NQF Measure Number & PQRI Implementation Number Clinical Quality Measure Title NQF 0024 Weight Assessment and Counseling for Children and Adolescents NQF 0041 PQRI 110 Preventive Care and Screening: Influenza Immunization for Patients 50 Years Old or Older NQF 0038 Childhood Immunization Status

30. CQM: Additional Set for EPs Diabetes: Hemoglobin A1c Poor Control Diabetes: Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) Management and Control Diabetes: Blood Pressure Management Heart Failure (HF): Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitor or Angiotensin Receptor Blocker (ARB) Therapy for Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD) Coronary Artery Disease (CAD): Beta-Blocker Therapy for CAD Patients with Prior Myocardial Infarction (MI) Pneumonia Vaccination Status for Older Adults Breast Cancer Screening Colorectal Cancer Screening Coronary Artery Disease (CAD): Oral Antiplatelet Therapy Prescribed for Patients with CAD Heart Failure (HF): Beta-Blocker Therapy for Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD) Anti-depressant medication management: (a) Effective Acute Phase Treatment,(b)Effective Continuation Phase Treatment Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG): Optic Nerve Evaluation Diabetic Retinopathy: Documentation of Presence or Absence of Macular Edema and Level of Severity of Retinopathy Diabetic Retinopathy: Communication with the Physician Managing Ongoing Diabetes Care Asthma Pharmacologic Therapy Asthma Assessment Appropriate Testing for Children with Pharyngitis Oncology Breast Cancer: Hormonal Therapy for Stage IC-IIIC Estrogen Receptor/Progesterone Receptor (ER/PR) Positive Breast Cancer Oncology Colon Cancer: Chemotherapy for Stage III Colon Cancer Patients

31. CQM: Additional Set for EPs, cont’d Prostate Cancer: Avoidance of Overuse of Bone Scan for Staging Low Risk Prostate Cancer Patients Smoking and Tobacco Use Cessation, Medical assistance: a) Advising Smokers and Tobacco Users to Quit, b) Discussing Smoking and Tobacco Use Cessation Medications, c) Discussing Smoking and Tobacco Use Cessation Strategies Diabetes: Eye Exam Diabetes: Urine Screening Diabetes: Foot Exam Coronary Artery Disease (CAD): Drug Therapy for Lowering LDL-Cholesterol Heart Failure (HF): Warfarin Therapy Patients with Atrial Fibrillation Ischemic Vascular Disease (IVD): Blood Pressure Management Ischemic Vascular Disease (IVD): Use of Aspirin or Another Antithrombotic Initiation and Engagement of Alcohol and Other Drug Dependence Treatment: a) Initiation, b) Engagement Prenatal Care: Screening for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Prenatal Care: Anti-D Immune Globulin Controlling High Blood Pressure Cervical Cancer Screening Chlamydia Screening for Women Use of Appropriate Medications for Asthma Low Back Pain: Use of Imaging Studies Ischemic Vascular Disease (IVD): Complete Lipid Panel and LDL Control Diabetes: Hemoglobin A1c Control (<8.0%)

32. CQM: Eligible Hospitals and CAHs Emergency Department Throughput – admitted patients Median time from ED arrival to ED departure for admitted patients Emergency Department Throughput – admitted patients – Admission decision time to ED departure time for admitted patients Ischemic stroke – Discharge on anti-thrombotics Ischemic stroke – Anticoagulation for A-fib/flutter Ischemic stroke – Thrombolytic therapy for patients arriving within 2 hours of symptom onset Ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke – Antithrombotic therapy by day 2 Ischemic stroke – Discharge on statins Ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke – Stroke education Ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke – Rehabilitation assessment VTE prophylaxis within 24 hours of arrival Intensive Care Unit VTE prophylaxis Anticoagulation overlap therapy Platelet monitoring on unfractionated heparin VTE discharge instructions Incidence of potentially preventable VTE

33. Participation in HITECH and other Medicare Incentive Programs for EPs Other Medicare Incentive Program Eligible for HITECH EHR Incentive Program? Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) Yes, if the EP is eligible. Medicare Electronic Health Record Demonstration (EHR Demo) Yes, if the EP is eligible. Medicare Care Management Performance Demonstration (MCMP) Yes, if the practice is eligible. The MCMP demo will end before EHR incentive payments are available. Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program If the EP chooses to practice in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, they cannot participate in the Medicare eRx Incentive Program simultaneously in the same program year. If the EP chooses to participate in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, they can participate in the Medicare eRx Incentive Program simultaneously.

34. EHR Incentive Program Timeline Registration for the EHR Incentive Programs will begin in January 2011 For Medicare providers, attestation for the EHR Incentive Programs will begin in April 2011 EHR incentive payments will be made 11 months after the rule is published* For Medicaid providers, States may launch their programs in January 2011 and thereafter November 30, 2011 – Last day for eligible hospitals and CAHs to register and attest to receive an incentive payment for FFY 2011 (Medicare providers) February 29, 2012 – Last day for EPs to register and attest to receive an incentive payment for CY 2011 (Medicare providers) 2015 – Medicare payment adjustments begin for EPs and eligible hospitals that are not meaningful users of EHR technology** 2016 – Last year to receive a Medicare EHR incentive payment; Last year to initiate participation in Medicaid EHR Incentive Program** 2021 – Last year to receive Medicaid EHR incentive payment** **Statutory

35. More Information http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms