NextGen Healthcare has been actively engaged in validation testing with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its technology partner, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), as part of the national onboarding process for electronic case reporting (eCR). This initiative is a large-scale, collaborative effort involving public health agencies (PHAs), certified EHR vendors, and the AIMS platform, which serves as the middleware connecting EHRs to PHAs across all 50 states and territories.
We’re pleased to share that earlier this month, NextGen Healthcare received official CDC approval for Stage 5 – General Onboarding for NextGen® Enterprise clients. This milestone reflects the completion of extensive testing and coordination with the CDC and APHL, and positions us to move forward with broader client onboarding.
As part of a broader review of onboarding processes, the CDC recently announced a temporary pause on new onboarding activity. This pause is intended to allow the CDC to evaluate and enhance its procedures to better support the growing demand for eCR nationwide. While onboarding is temporarily on hold, we remain in close communication with the CDC and will notify clients as soon as onboarding resumes.
What should NextGen Healthcare clients do now?
Clients using NextGen® Enterprise should ensure they have implemented NextGen® Share and its Direct Messaging service. Once onboarding resumes, the NextGen Share team will automatically activate eCR for eligible clients—no additional steps will be required. Clients will have the opportunity to opt out of automatic activation.
What does this mean for 2025 MIPS reporting, given the fact that providers who have previously registered their intent to submit production eCR data to the PHAs to maintain active engagement and attest to this measure?
Earlier this month, CMS sent a message alerting healthcare providers and organizations of the announced eCR onboarding pause and recommending that MIPS participants consider available exceptions for the eCR measure, which apply to any MIPS eligible clinician/organization that:
(1) Does not treat or diagnose any reportable diseases for which data are collected by its jurisdiction’s reportable disease system during the performance period.
(2) Operates in a jurisdiction for which no PHA is capable of receiving eCR data in the specific standards required to meet the certified electronic health record (EHR) technology (CEHRT) definition at the start of the performance period; or
(3) Operates in a jurisdiction where no PHA has declared readiness to receive eCR data as of six months prior to the start of the performance period.
While we believe the exception 2 applies to NextGen Healthcare clients in the current scenario, we do not provide legal/regulatory advice. NextGen Healthcare urges clients to consult with their legal and regulatory advisors if they have any question about CMS’s recommendations.
We appreciate your continued partnership and will keep you informed as new updates become available.