The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has extended the 2013 meaningful use attestation deadline for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program from February 28 to March 31. However, the criteria still must have been met by Dec. 31, 2013, the end of the reporting period, to qualify for the incentive payments. The deadline extension applies only to the Medicare incentive program, and does not apply to the state Medicaid incentive programs or the Medicare Physician Quality Reporting System.

The deadline was extended because the attestation system has been experiencing a number of technical problems that have prevented some physicians from submitting their attestation data.

CMS has provided the following tips on attesting:

• Before you begin, ensure that your payment assignment and other relevant information is up to date in the Medicare payment system (PECOS).

• Make sure to include a valid email address in your EHR program registration.

• Consider logging on to use the attestation system during non-peak hours such as evenings and weekends.

• Log on to the registration and attestation system now and ensure that your information is up to date and begin entering your 2013 data.

• If you experience attestation problems, call the CMS EHR Information Center for assistance.

• If your organization has more than 1,000 providers assigned to a proxy user, use the PECOS system to designate additional proxies to facilitate attestation.

The CMS EHR Information Center can be reached at (888) 734-6433 and is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (Central Time), except federal holidays.

For more information, visit the CMS registration and attestation page.

Contact: Michele Kelly, (213) 226-0338 or at mkelly@cmadocs.org.