The Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive (EHR) Program launched in September 2011 and concluded December 31, 2021 with the ending of the federal funding opportunity.
CQMR Service Suspension
After careful consideration, in light of changing national standards, we have decided to suspend the CQMR service. The CQMR has been a core component of OHA's efforts to ensure quality in the Medicaid program while supporting value-based payment and addressing provider burden. Specifically,
the CQMR was intended to provide a streamlined solution for reporting, delivering efficiencies in data collection and reducing reporting burdens by leveraging national standards.
OHA remains committed to the
goalsof collecting robust clinical data on outcomes measures to support health system transformation.
You can learn more about this change on our suspension
FAQ.
Alerts
Program Year 2021 Webinar
Event held: January 12, 2021
Program Year 2020 Webinar
Do you have questions about the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program requirements for 2020? If so, please join us at our upcoming webinar on August 26th. Program Year 2020 will open for attestations on November 1, 2020 and close March 31, 2021. An informational webinar will be offered in August to cover requirements for Program Year 2020 with a question and answer session following.
Event Details:
When: August 26, 2020 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Where: Virtually, via GoToWebinar
Questions: Medicaid.EHRIncentives@dhsoha.state.or.us
View the webinar
here
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View additional webinars
here>
Program Year 2019 Update:
We are pleased to let you know that today, we received CMS approval to extend the Program Year 2019 attestation deadline from March 31, 2020 to April 30, 2020.
Although we are extending the grace period, we encourage you to start your attestation soon. Reminder: Completing an attestation requires submitting your eCQMs in the CQMR and completing the non-eCQM components in MAPIR. Visit the Program Year 2019 webpage for more information.
Program Year 2019 Reminders:
- The deadline to attest is April 30, 2020. Start your attestation
here. Note: Your eCQMs are part of your attestation, and must be submitted to the
CQMR by April 30, 2020 as well.
- If you did not participate in Program Year 2018 and have not completed the CQMR
onboarding process, please get started on this process now. For an updated step-by-step guide to using the CQMR, please visit our
training website.
- If you are planning to submit multiple QRDA 3 files for one provider, please follow the process below by February 28, 2020.
- Contact the Velatura CQMR help desk to begin the process, either in the CQMR portal or by email.
- In the CQMR portal, go to the Support tab and select Contact Support to complete a help desk ticket. Please include “QRDA 3 aggregation request” in the subject line of your ticket. As a timesaving step, you can attach the QRDA 3 files to the help desk ticket. Click submit when you are done.
- Alternatively, you can email your request to the help desk at
help@oregon-cqmr.mihin.org. To help us process your request quickly, please include “QRDA 3 aggregation request” in the subject line of your email. If you are attaching QRDA 3 files to your email, please zip them by provider and name accordingly – for example, one zip file for Jane Doe’s files named “Jane Doe” or by her NPI and a separate zip file for Bob Roe’s files named “Bob Roe” or by his NPI.
- CMS updated the
2019 Specification Sheets to reflect a requirement change for Objective 5 Measure 1 for 2019 only. See the updated language below taken from the specification sheet:
- For 2019 only, due to confusion about this measure, an EP may meet Measure 1 if they (1) have enabled an API within the EHR reporting period if that period is a full calendar year, or if it is less than a full calendar year, within the calendar year in which the EHR reporting period occurs, (2) make data available via that API for 80% of the patients seen during their reporting period, (3) provide those patients with detailed instructions on how to authenticate their access through the API and provide the patient with supplemental information on available applications that leverage the API, and (4) maintain availability of the API.
- For information about attesting to Program Year 2019, please view one of our
webinars or refer to the
Program Year 2019 page. We recently completed an Attestation Walk-Through Webinar, which you can view
here.
Program Year 2020 Update:
Practice Fusion Press Release:
- On January 27, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Practice Fusion Inc. (Practice Fusion), a San Francisco-based health information technology developer, will pay $145 million to resolve criminal and civil investigations relating to its electronic health records (EHR) software. See the press release
here.
- What do I do if I attested in the past with Practice Fusion and received an incentive payment?
- CMS has advised that States and providers do not need to take any actions. CMS has a public-facing FAQ (#6097) stating that providers should not be penalized for problems with their CEHRT that are discovered after attestation. If an EP provided attestations that they believed to be accurate at the time, and their documentation was sufficient at the time of payment, then they should not be under further scrutiny. See the CMS FAQ below for further clarification:
CMS FAQ #6097Q: I entered numerator and denominator information during my Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program attestation from my certified EHR technology, but subsequently discovered that the method of calculation included in the software was flawed. The software vendor has updated the reports. If CMS audits me, will I be held responsible for the difference between what I reported and what the updated software calculates?
A: CMS does not plan to conduct an audit to find providers who relied on flawed software for their attestation information. We realize that providers relied on the software they used for accuracy of reporting, and we believe that most providers who were improperly deemed meaningful users would have met the requirements of the EHR Incentive Programs using the updated certified EHR technology.
Update to Stage 3
The 2019 Medicare Physicians Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule has made changes to the previously established Stage 3 Objectives and Measures. These changes have been made to reduce burden, increase interoperability and improve patient electronic access to their health information under the Promoting Interoperability Programs.
Here is a link to the
CMS Final Rule
Clinical Quality Metrics Registry Opening for Program Year 2018
We are happy to announce that the Clinical Quality Metrics Registry (CQMR) will open for Medicaid EHR Incentive Program electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) 2018 reporting on January 14, 2019. The system will undergo additional work before being used for CCO incentive measures, which have different reporting requirements. As a result, CCO incentive measures for 2018 will be reported using the contingency plan outlined in the 2018
Guidance Documentation.
Now that we have a launch date, we encourage Medicaid EHR Incentive Program participants to start onboarding to the CQMR. Onboarding involves registering for a OneHealthPort account; completing legal agreements; and reviewing training materials. You can find details on our
onboarding page. Webinars, coming in early 2019, will provide more information on using the system.
As we discussed in the
Program Year 2018 webinar, you will upload eCQM data to the CQMR either as QRDA III files or using an Excel template. Although you will continue to use MAPIR for the rest of the attestation, you will no longer manually enter eCQMs into MAPIR.
We anticipate the CQMR will include MIPS and CPC+ eCQM submission options starting in February. After go-live, we will continue to work with our vendors to ensure the system meets CCO users’ needs. As we complete that work, we anticipate using the system for pilot testing and beginning CCO incentive measure reporting through the CQMR for the 2019 program year. We will also work with our vendors to enhance CQMR functionality, including robust patient-to-payer attribution for patient-level data. More to come on this in the coming months.
We would like to thank all our stakeholders, especially our CQMR Subject Matter Expert Workgroup members, who have done so much to make the CQMR possible.
If you have any questions about…
Program Year 2018 Webinar
This 30 minute informational webinar will address the requirements for submitting a 2018 Medicaid EHR Incentive Program attestation. The content will cover documentation requirements, a review of Meaningful Use objectives, and an introduction to the
Clinical Quality Metrics Registry (CQMR). Scheduled to go live in December 2018, the CQMR is a new tool for reporting Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) for the Oregon Medicaid EHR Incentive Program and CCO incentive measures A 30 minute question and answer session will follow the webinar.
Offered times:
- Tuesday, July 31, 11:00am – 12:00pm
- Thursday, August 9, 2:30pm – 3:30pm
For more info visit
our webinar page.
Information Blocking Attestation
Providers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs must attest to three statements to demonstrate that they have not knowingly and willfully taken action to limit or restrict the compatibility or interoperability of their CEHRT. Collectively, these statements are referred to as the "prevention of information blocking attestation." For more details on information blocking review this
fact sheet.
MACRA/Quality Payment Program
A change for 2017 that affects Medicare providers, and possibly Medicaid providers, has been the introduction of the Quality Payment Program (QPP), which is separate from the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. Providers participating in the Quality Payment Program, can still participate in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. For more information, please visit
https://qpp.cms.gov/
Program Year 2017 Webinar
This 30-minute informational webinar will address the requirements for submitting a 2017 Medicaid EHR Incentive Program attestation. The content will cover changes to Meaningful Use Modified Stage 2 and Stage 3 objectives, CMS Final Rule Changes, and a review of program documentation requirements. A 30 minute question and answer session will follow the webinar.
Offered times:
- Thursday, October 5th: 10am – 11am
- Tuesday, October 10th: 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Register here.
Program Payment Updates:
- As of August 31, 2017, the Oregon Medicaid EHR Incentive Program has paid 3,184 unique eligible professionals and 59 eligible hospitals $164.9 million in EHR incentive payments.
- We are currently processing Program Year 2016 attestations submitted in March 2017
eClinicalWorks
Earlier this spring, upon analysis of an issue reported by eClinicalWorks (eCW), CMS issued guidance that the 90-day EHR Reporting Period of October 3, 2016 – December 31, 2016 is the only time period from which providers may utilize their Meaningful Use (MU) data for the purposes of applying for an EHR incentive program payment. Those providers who are not able to meet their MU criteria during that period in 2016 are advised to pursue a hardship exemption, if they are subject to Medicare Payment Adjustments.
You can find the
hardship exemption application here. Please note, the application is due July 1, 2017.
This issue does not affect your 2016 Medicaid EHR Incentive Program attestation if you submitted a Meaningful Use (MU) attestation and you met MU criteria for the EHR Reporting Period of October 3, 2016 – December 31, 2016, or if you submitted an Adopt, Implement, or Upgrade (AIU) attestation for 2016. If you submitted a 2016 MU attestation, and you did not meet MU criteria for the EHR Reporting Period of October 3, 2016 – December 31, 2016, you may withdraw your 2016 Medicaid EHR Incentive Program attestation and apply for the hardship exemption, if applicable. Withdrawing your 2016 attestation will allow you to skip the 2016 program year and attest for MU in a future program year. The Medicaid EHR Incentive team has checked to ensure providers used the correct EHR Reporting Period of October 3, 2016 – December 31, 2016, and has already contacted any providers who needed to make an EHR Reporting Period correction.
Also, please be aware that CMS also issued
an FAQ regarding the eCW issue and auditing
In more recent development, the U.S. District Attorney of Vermont announced a settlement with eCW, alleging the company fraudulently obtained federal certification for its software, causing medical providers to submit false claims for incentive payments: https://www.justice.gov/usao-vt/pr/electronic-health-records-vendor-pay-largest-settlement-district-vermont
The Oregon Medicaid EHR Incentive Program currently does not intend to alter the ongoing review process for pending attestations from providers utilizing eCW. Attestations will be processed in date order received. In the course of our established review procedure, you may receive the standard requests for follow-up information or documentation to support your pending Medicaid EHR Incentive Program attestation before it is approved for further processing or payment.
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us: 503-945-5898
Naturopaths approved for Medicaid EHR Incentive Program
On May 3, 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), approved Oregon naturopathic physicians (NDs) as an eligible professional type for the Oregon Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program. NDs that meet program eligibility criteria may qualify for up to $63,750 over six years to adopt, implement, or upgrade, or meaningfully use certified EHR technology.
CMS also approved an extension of the Program Year 2016 deadline for Oregon NDs, as Program Year 2016 is the last year for eligible professionals to begin the program. Eligible Oregon NDs have until July 31, 2017 to submit a Program Year 2016 attestation. All other provider types have until May 31 to submit a Program Year 2016 attestation.
Program Year 2016 Updates
Program Year 2016 Attestation Review Status - Posted September 27, 2017
Attestations will be processed in date-order-received. We will notify you via email when your attestation has been reviewed and whether it has been approved or if additional information or documentation is required. If corrections or additional documentation are needed, you will need to submit those to us so your attestation review can be completed.
We are committed to processing attestation as quickly as possible. Due to the high attestation volume, we will unable to review attestations out of order, or provide specific information regarding your attestation until it moves into formal review. If you submitted a Program Year 2016 attestation and have yet to receive payment, please continue to check our website for status updates on where we are with attestation processing.
To review your attestation or upload additional documentation,
log in to MAPIR at any time.
For questions, please contact us at: 503-945-5898 or
Medicaid.EHRIncentives@dhsoha.state.or.us
Program Year 2016 Deadline Extended for EPs
CMS approved our request to extend the deadline for eligible professionals to attest for program year 2016 from March 31, 2017 to May 31, 2017. This applies to eligible professionals attesting to adopt, implement, or upgrade (AIU) or meaningful use (MU) for program year 2016. The deadline for Oregon eligible hospitals is still March 31, 2017.
Program Year 2016 Attestation Deadlines:
- Eligible Hospitals: March 31, 2017
- Eligible Professionals (AIU & MU): May 31, 2017
Program Year 2016 - Last year to begin EHR Incentive Program
If you are applying for Oregon's EHR Incentive Program for the first time, Program Year 2016 is the last year to get started.
- Deadline for eligible professionals to attest for 2016 is now May 31, 2017
- Deadline for eligible hospitals to attest for 2016 is still March 31, 2017
- Download the
fact sheet.
- Download the
documentation check list
Learn more about Program Year 2016 and first year attestation.