Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: I read your article on EHR tips for 2018 (Pulmonology Coding Alert, Vo. 19., no. 2,) and I have a follow-up question. We'd like to find out if our EHR is certified, as well as getting other data about our vendor. Where can we find this without having to ask the vendor for it directly? Also, can we use a 2014-certified EHR to report under the ACI component of the Quality Payment Program? Will it work for MIPS?

Codify Subscriber

Answer: Determining whether your EHR is certified, or whether your vendor is on the fed's "banned" list, as well as other information, can be found on the government's Health IT.gov page at https://chpl.healthit.gov/#/search.

QPP Year 2:  For 2018 reporting, CMS will allow eligible clinicians to use their 2014 Edition CEHRT to report under the Advancing Care Information (ACI) component of the Quality Payment Program (QPP). However, if you want to boost your payment, you have the option of upgrading to the 2015 Edition CEHRT under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) for a bonus.

Reminder: For Performance Year 1, reporting clinicians receive a score in three out of the four categories, which CMS weights according to the relative importance assigned to each, to arrive at a single score between 0 and 100. In order to avoid a 4 percent penalty to your Medicare take-home pay, you must report by the 2017 deadline and meet the MIPS "partial" reporting requirements under "Pick-Your-Pace."

Use this primer as a short refresh of what constitutes "partial" or what CMS suggests most MIPS 2017 participants will submit:

• Cost: This category is not required for Performance Year 1 and will not factor into the MIPS composite score for 2017.
• Improvement Activities: Submit four improvement activities for at least 90 days. This is worth 15 percent of the MIPS composite score.
• Quality: Attest to at least six measures, including an "outcome measure" for a minimum of 90 days. This counts toward 60 percent of your total.
• Advancing Care Information: Report on all base-score measures (four in 2017) and up to nine optional measures for a higher score. Sufficient attestation adds 25 percent to your MIPScomposite.

Resource: To check out more QPP information, links, and guidance, visit https://qpp.cms.gov.