CHIME Praises CMS Decision to Remove 2015 CEHRT Mandates in 2018

ANN ARBOR, MI, Aug. 3, 2017 –The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made several changes to a final rule on Wednesday that improve the chances that hospitals will successfully fulfill their Meaningful Use and electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) reporting requirements. CHIME is pleased that CMS listened to our members on these issues.

“CMS took into account that both hospitals and vendors need more time to prepare for 2015 certified EHRs (CEHRT). By no longer requiring these new systems be in place by the start of 2018, a huge weight has been lifted off our collective shoulders,” said CHIME Board Chair Liz Johnson, CIO of Acute Care Hospitals & Applied Clinical Informatics at Tenet Healthcare Corporation.

CMS announced in its final Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule that the agency elected to give hospitals another year using the 2014 CEHRT Edition and the option to continue meeting Modified Stage 2 measures, rather than having to move to Stage 3 next year.

On top of the changes CIOs had been hoping for with 2015 Edition CEHRT and Stage 3, CMS also announced they will require hospitals to report only four eCQMs as opposed to the earlier adopted number of eight in 2017 and 2018. And, they adopted a reporting period of any quarter of data for eCQM reporting for both years as well.

Johnson had more praise for these changes, too. “Taken together the common-sense changes CMS made will provide greater stability and certainty to hospitals allowing them to continue to forge ahead using technology to better treat the patients they serve,” she said.

About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With over 2,400 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendor partners and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

Contact
Candace Stuart
Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
734.665.0000
[email protected]