HITPC: Data dispel concerns about non-returning MU attesters

About 85 percent of Medicare early adopters have successfully attested to Meaningful Use for 2011, 2012 and 2013, reported Elisabeth Myers, policy and outreach lead at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Office of eHealth Standards and Services during the Health IT Policy Committee on April 8.

“These numbers have not accounted for folks who had switched from Medicare to Medicaid, or any eligibility status change,” she clarified, adding that the numbers are “incredibly encouraging.”

About 14,000 Medicare Meaningful Users from 2011 did not return to attest in 2012—but in 2013, 57 percent of these providers returned to attest, she said.

About 86 percent of the total 2012 cohort returned to attest in 2013, with 14 percent not returning. “We expect that number to go down to adjust to those who could not have returned to the program at all because they switched programs, closed down or due to eligibility changes,” she said.

In a regular update of the CMS EHR incentive program, Myers said as of February the agency had dispersed $13.7 billion in total payments.

More than 90 percent of all eligible hospitals have received an EHR payment, and more than 65 percent of Medicare and Medicaid eligible professionals have made a financial commitment to implementing an EHR. In total, more than 355,000 Medicare and Medicaid eligible professionals have received an EHR payment, she said.