Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Not all Medicare providers will report under Advancing Care Information in 2018. As of right now, Medicare-eligible and Medicaid-eligible hospitals will continue to submit Meaningful Use (MU) data to the Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) System through CMS.

Starting January 2, 2018, Medicare-eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals “participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program will submit their 2017 meaningful use data to the QualityNet Secure Portal,” said a CMS update on Aug. 7, 2017. However, be advised that the release mentioned the program’s registration and attestation will not be open for hospitals until Dec. 31, 2017, but that the QualityNet portal promises to make reporting easier and more efficient.

“Medicaid-only hospitals should contact their state Medicaid agencies for specific information on how to attest,” the Medicare EHR Incentive Program release noted.

“Dually-eligible” hospitals, who attest MU data for both Medicare and Medicaid, must register through the HQR System and through their state Medicaid organizations while “dually-eligible” hospitals reporting for the first time must sign-up in the EHR Incentive Program Registration and Attestation system as well as register to use the QualityNet Secure Portal, CMS indicated.

Resources: For more in-depth information about reporting Meaningful Use data in 2018, visit www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/index.html.

To look at QualityNet’s information and sign-up, visit: >www.qualitynet.org/dcs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=QnetPublic/Page/QnetHomepage&cid=1120143435363.