The attestation deadline for the 2012 Medicare electronic health record (EHR) incentive program is February 28, 2013. To receive incentive payments for 2012, physicians must by the end of the month attest that they adopted, implemented, upgraded or successfully demonstrated meaningful use of certified EHR technology during the 2012 calendar year. Attestations can be made online on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Physicians participating in the Medi-Cal EHR incentive program have until March 31, 2013, to attest and receive incentive payments for 2012. Medi-Cal attestations can be made at http://medi-cal.ehr.ca.gov.

For more information on the federal incentive program and meaningful use, see CMA On-Call documents #4301,"EHR Federal Incentive Programs," and #4302,"Meaningful Use of EHRs." These documents, as well as the rest of the CMA health law library, are available free to members in CMA's online resource library. Nonmembers can purchase On-Call documents for $2/page.

Also in the resource library is CMA's members-only fact sheet, "Federal EHR Incentive Programs: Stage 2 of Meaningful Use and Changes to Stage 1."