On Friday, January 22, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a new application and instructions for meaningful use hardship exceptions. These changes come as a result of legislation passed by Congress and signed into law in late December. The Patient Access and Medicare Protection Act (PAMPA), requires CMS to adopt more flexible hardship exceptions from meaningful use penalties based on 2015 meaningful use.
Under the new guidance and process, eligible professionals have until March 15 to apply for a meaningful use hardship exception from the 3% Medicare penalty in 2017 (tied to 2015 MU performance). Similar to applications from previous years, there are number of reasons a provider might qualify for a hardship exception. However, this new application allows applicants to claim a hardship based on “issues related to insufficient time to make changes to the CEHRT to meet CMS regulatory requirements for reporting in 2015.”
This is a specific reference to the modified Stage 2 rules, which CMS did not release until October 2105.
NextGen Healthcare emphasizes the following points with respect to hardship exceptions:
- Clients who believe they qualify for the hardship exception based on one of the available reasons should visit the Payment Adjustments & Hardship page on the CMS website to review guidance and download the application
- While the PAMPA law was intended to address the impact of the lateness of the 2015 modified Stage 2 rule, this is not clearly spelled out in the application; rather, this reason is buried in the description for reason 2.d EHR Certification/Vendor Issues (CEHRT Issues).
- While NextGen Healthcare disagrees with CMS’ wording (suggesting that CMS’ lateness in releasing the 2015 modified Stage 2 rule is a CEHRT-related issue), a client who believes the timing of the “mod rule” created an extreme hardship for its providers should select reason 2.2.d. on the application
- This CMS FAQ clearly states that “CMS does not require and EP, eligible hospital or CAH – or any group of providers – to submit documentation for the hardship category selected” and that “CMS will not be reviewing documentation supporting the application on a case-by-case basis.” *
- CMS has created a process for electronically filing applications and for including multiple providers on a single application.
- The deadline is March 15, 2015 for eligible professionals filing a hardship exception application.
*Please note: pursuant to CMS guidance, NextGen Healthcare will not be providing letters in support of hardship exception application filings.