Meaningful Use – a good idea to wait until next year?

It’s getting late. Healthcare providers must begin Meaningful Use (MU) 90-day reporting for 2013 no later than Oct 3, 2013. By now, you may be considering to wait until next year. Hang on. Is that really the best decision? Please consider the following.



For Medicare participants, delaying first-time MU attestation until 2014 reduces total available incentives by $15K (from $39K to $24K) per provider. Likely to purchase an EHR eventually? Can you stand to forego $15K?

Federal funding for Regional Extension Center (REC) technical assistance runs out in April, 2014. Assistance will still be around, but it won’t be as cheap!

All 2014 MU attestations require 2014 Certified EHR Technology, regardless what MU stage applies (first and second timers – under Stage 1). Can you say “upgrade?” But if your current certified EHR is live, you could already be close, with a little more work. Wouldn’t $15K (from 2013 attestation) help with that 2014 required upgrade?

Consider timing. Most EHRs aren’t 2014 certified yet, and won’t be until well into the year. Once they are, you’ll need time to upgrade, master new features, learn workflows and begin MU reporting. By then you’ll be pushing the 2014 attestation deadline. Miss that deadline and forfeit the remaining $24K, and incur penalties.

Lastly, 2014 will already be challenging. There will be ICD-10 plus the 2014 EHR upgrade. Providers have only until Oct. 1, 2014 to attest to MU to avoid 1 percent Medicare claims adjustments beginning 2015. This means the 90-day reporting period starts in July rather than October.

Who needs the extra pressure? Do it now.

Admittedly, Medicaid EHR Incentive participants risk no incentive reductions or Medicaid penalties, but money today is still better than money later on.