Medical Billing Blog

CMS Starts Meaningful Use Audits for EMR Adopters

Posted by Barry Shatzman on Thu, Aug, 09, 2012 @ 14:08 PM

Providers must pass meaningful use audits to qualify for incentive payments from CMSUnder the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of a certified electronic health record system qualify for Medicare or Medicaid incentive programs.

CMS is required to audit health care providers attesting to meaningful use.  CMS has hired Figliozzi & Company of Garden City, N.Y., to perform these audits.  Providers that have attested to achieving meaningful use of their EHR will now undergo audits to prove eligibility for the incentives. 

CMS has posted the audit guidelines online and advises providers to "save the supporting electronic or paper documentation that support your attestation," including documentation that will back up their payment calculations.

According to Jim Wieland and Joshua Freemire of Ober Kaler, the auditor is asking for four types of information:

  • A copy of the provider's certification from the Office of the National Coordinator for the technology used to meet the program's requirements, to show that the provider has a certified EHR system
  • The method used to report emergency department admissions, which affects some of the required measures 
  • Supporting documentation for the completion of the attestation regarding the core set objectives and measures
  • Supporting documentation for the completion of the attestation regarding the menu set objectives and measures

Ober Kaler warns providers to be mindful of HIPAA when complying with the record requests.  "Audited providers should be careful to ensure that they do not simply “throw the kitchen sink” at Figliozzi and Company and, in the process, provide unnecessary and unrequested personal health information. As always, entities should provide the “minimum necessary information requested”.

The requested information should already be within your EHR and shouldn’t be very troublesome to gather if you’re audited.