Promoting Interoperability Program (formerly EHR Incentive Program)

PROGRAM NEWS

March 1, 2021 – New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program Attestation Deadline for Eligible Professionals for Calendar Year 2021. Calendar Year 2021 of the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability (PI) Program is the final year for the program. Per federal regulations, all incentive payments for the PI Program must be issued by December 31, 2021. After this date, the PI Program will be complete, and no more payments will be issued except in case of audit or appeal. New Jersey's attestation system will begin accepting attestations for Calendar Year 2021 applications on April 1, 2021. The last day an Eligible Professional may submit attestation for the Calendar Year 2021 is October 15, 2021

PLEASE NOTE: The attestation deadline date does not apply for hospitals as attestation for all Eligible Hospitals in the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program is already complete. 

Important Updates for CY 2021 attestations: 

Stage 3 

  • The EP must be using the 2015 Edition functionality for the full EHR reporting period and must attest to Stage 3 for Calendar Year 2021. 
  • The CMS Specification Sheets for Calendar Year 2021 is located at the CMS website (CY 2021 Spec Sheet for EPs

 MU/EHR reporting Period and CQMs for Calendar Year 2021: 

  • The EHR reporting period for Medicaid eligible professionals (EPs) is a minimum of any continuous 90-day reporting period. The reporting period can be any continuous 90-day period between January 1 and October 30, 2021. 
  • The EPs are required to report on a 90-day CQM reporting period. The reporting period can be any continuous 90-day period between January 1 and October 30, 2021. 
  • EPs are required to report on any six CQMs related to their scope of practice. In addition, Medicaid EPs are required to report on at least one outcome measure. If no outcome measures are relevant to that EP, they must report on at least one other high-priority measure. If there are no outcome or high priority measures relevant to an EP’s scope of practice, they must report on any six relevant measures. 
  • The list of available CQMs for EPs in 2021 found at: CQMs list  

Security Risk Analysis (SRA): 

  • For Calendar Year 2021, the Eligible Professionals must complete their Security Risk Analysis (SRA) by December 31, 2021 and must submit their SRA documentation by January 15, 2022. 
  • Security Risk Analysis (SRA) may be performed before, during, or after the EHR/MU reporting period but must be performed during the calendar year, January 1- December 31, 2021.
  • SRA Document Submission: 
    • If the SRA has been completed by the date of attestation, the Eligible Professional is required to submit/upload the SRA documentation with the attestation.  
    • If the SRA has not been completed by the date of attestation, the Eligible Professional is required to complete it by the end of day December 31, 2021. Upon completion of the SRA, the Eligible Professional must submit the supporting documentation to DMAHS via secure email to mahs.ehrincentives@dhs.nj.gov, before or by the end of day, January 15, 2022. The Eligible Professional must identify the organization to which the SRA applies, so it may be properly applied to all applicable Eligible Professionals.  
  • Eligible Professionals who do not complete their SRAs by December 31, 2021 and/or do not submit their SRA documentation by the January 15, 2022 deadline are subject to audit and may have their incentive payment recouped.  

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) updated the SRA Compliance Tool at the healthit.gov website. The form must be completed, signed, and uploaded with the application. The new form may be accessed at: Download SRA tool.

No incentive payments will be made after December 31, 2021. 

November 18, 2020 – Attestation Deadline Reminder for the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for Calendar Year 2020. New Jersey's attestation system has begun accepting the attestations for the Calendar Year 2020 as of April 1, 2020. The last day to submit the attestations for CY 2020 for the Eligible Professionals is March 31, 2021. All the participants for the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program will have until 11:59 pm ET on March 31, 2021 to submit their CY 2020 attestations. Beginning April 1, 2021, the provider incentive payment system will begin to accept the attestations for CY 2021.

Please note that the Calendar Year 2021 is the final year of the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program.

Important Updates for CY 2020 attestations:

Stage 3: 

  • The EP must be using the 2015 Edition functionality for the full EHR reporting period and must attest to Stage 3 for Calendar Year 2020.
  • The CMS Specification Sheets for Calendar Year 2020 is located at the CMS website (CY 2020 Spec Sheet for EPs)

 MU/EHR reporting Period and CQMs for Calendar Year 2020:

  • The EHR reporting period for Medicaid eligible professionals (EP) is a minimum of any continuous 90-day reporting period.
  • The EPs are required to report on a 90-day Clinical Quality Measures reporting period. EPs may continue to report the CQMs either by manual data entry or electronically (eCQMs).
  • EPs are required to report on any six CQMs related to their scope of practice. In addition, Medicaid EPs are required to report on at least one outcome measure. If no outcome measures are relevant to that EP, they must report on at least one other high-priority measure. If there are no outcome or high priority measures relevant to an EP’s scope of practice, they must report on any six relevant measures.
  • The list of available CQMs for EPs in 2020 can be found at: Clinical Quality Measures list 

Security Risk Analysis (SRA):

  • For Calendar Year 2020, the Security Risk Analysis (SRA) may be performed before, during, or after the EHR/MU reporting period but must be performed during the calendar year, January 1-December 31, 2020. 
  • The SRA must cover the entire reporting period. 

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) developed a downloadable Security Risk Assessment (SRA) Tool to help guide you through the process. The SRA Tool may be downloaded from the HealthIT.gov website by selecting this link.

June 11, 2020 – Attestation Deadline Reminder for the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for Calendar Year 2019. The deadline to attest for CY 2019 in the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for Eligible Professionals is June 30, 2020. All the participants for the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program will have until 11:59 pm ET on June 30, 2020 to submit their CY 2019 attestations.

Please note that starting April 1, 2020, the provider incentive payment system had been accepting the attestations for CY 2020 for those participants that have successfully attested to CY 2019 and have received incentive payments for it.

New Jersey State Medicaid continues to monitor the pandemic situation, at this time the post-payment inspections related to the Promoting Interoperability Program attestations still remains suspended until further notice.

March 23, 2020 – COVID-19 Update for New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program Attestation Deadline for Eligible Professionals for Calendar Year 2019. Due to the unprecedented circumstances related to the COVID-19 crisis, the deadline to attest for CY 2019 in the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for Eligible Professionals is now extended until June 30, 2020. All the participants for the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program will now have until 11:59 pm ET on June 30, 2020 to submit their CY 2019 attestations.

Please also note that starting April 1, 2020, the provider incentive payment system will also be ready to accept the attestations for CY 2020 for those participants that have successfully attested to CY 2019 and have received incentive payments for it.

New Jersey Medicaid is also suspending postpayment inspections of Promoting Interoperability Program attestations in alignment with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrative actions taken in response to the national emergency declaration. One of the administrative actions is the Suspension of Enforcement Activities: CMS will temporarily suspend non-emergency survey inspections, allowing providers to focus on the most current serious health and safety threats. New Jersey will resume postpayment inspections when the national emergency is lifted and normal provider clinical activities resumes.

New Jersey State Medicaid Agency continues to monitor the situation and in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is committed to bring any relief to Medicaid providers and health care professionals in order to allow providers to focus on critical, life-sustaining work during this COVID-19 pandemic.

December 24, 2019 – New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program Attestation Deadline for Eligible Professionals for Calendar Year 2019. The deadline to attest for CY 2019 in the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for Eligible Professionals is March 31, 2019. All the participants for the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program will have until 11:59 pm ET on March 31, 2019 to submit their CY 2019 attestations. Past this date starting April 1, 2020, the provider incentive payment system will begin to accept the attestations for CY 2020.

PLEASE NOTE: The attestation deadline date does not apply for hospitals as attestation for all Eligible Hospitals in the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program is already complete.

December 24, 2019 – CMS Allows Flexibility on Objective 5 (Patient Electronic Access), Measure 1 for Calendar Year 2019 Attestations and Clarifies the Requirement for CY 2020 Attestations.  In the HITECH newsletter published by CMS on October 29, 2019, CMS acknowledged that the language published by CMS in the Stage 3 regulation and Calendar Year 2019 specification sheet for Objective 5, Measure 1 was unclear. The language states:

Measure 1: For more than 80 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP:

  1. The patient (or the patient-authorized representative) is provided timely access to view online, download, and transmit his or her health information; and
  2. The provider ensures the patient’s health information is available for the patient (or patient-authorized representative) to access using any application of their choice that is configured to meet the technical specifications of the Application Programming Interface (API) in the provider’s certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT).

It is not very clear from the language above that the word “timely” applies to the availability of data via an API in (2), as well as the VDT in (1). The intent of this measure is that EPs must make a patient’s health data available and must offer all four functionalities (view, download, transmit, and access through API) within 48 hours of the information being available to the EP.

Due to confusion, CMS is allowing states to give EPs flexibility on meeting the second part of this measure for CY 2019 Attestations only. The EPs may meet this measure if they:

  1. Have enabled an API during the calendar year of the reporting period,
  2. Make data available via that API for 80% of the patients seen during their reporting period,
  3. Provide those patients with detailed instructions on how to authenticate their access through the API and provide the patient with supplemental information on available applications that leverage the API, and
  4. Maintain availability of the API, i.e., it can’t be turned on for one day and then disabled.

This flexibility meets the intent of the measure while not penalizing Eligible Professionals for the turbidity of the current specifications, which will be updated for Calendar Year 2020 attestations.

May 30, 2019 – Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program Requirements for 2019 Attestation. Beginning in 2019, all eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, dual-eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) are required to use 2015 edition certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT) to meet the requirements of the Promoting Interoperability Program. The requirements of the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for Calendar Year 2019 attestations have been published on the CMS EHR Incentive Program website. The Medicaid specification sheets is made availble in the links below for more information:

Please note that the 2015 Edition CEHRT did not have to be implemented on January 1, 2019. However, the functionality must be in place by the first day of the EHR reporting period and the product must be certified to the 2015 Edition criteria by the last day of the EHR reporting period. In many situations the product may be deployed but pending certification. The eligible hospital or CAH must be using the 2015 Edition functionality for the full EHR reporting period.

March 13, 2019 – New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program Attestation "REVISED" Deadline for Eligible Hospitals and Eligible Professionals for Calendar Year 2018. The deadline to attest for CY 2018 in the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for Eligible Hospitals and Eligible Professionals is April 1, 2019. All the participants for the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program will have until 11:59 pm ET on April 1, 2019 to submit their CY 2018 attestations. Past this date starting April 2, 2019, the provider incentive payment system will begin to accept the attestations for CY 2019.

February 20, 2019 – New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program Attestation Deadline for Eligible Hospitals and Eligible Professionals for Calendar Year 2018. The deadline to attest for CY2018 in the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for eligible hospitals and eligible professionals is March 31, 2019. However, for dually-eligible hospitals, the deadline for CY2019 attestation in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program is February 28, 2019. Subsequently, the eligible hospital will have until March 31, 2019 to submit their CY2018 attestation for the New Jersey Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program.

December 20, 2018 – Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Final Rule. On August 2, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for FY2019 IPPS and LTCH Prospective Payment System. This final rule will impact the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability (PI) Programs (formerly known as the EHR Incentive Programs) as below:

  • Requires the use of 2015 Edition CEHRT for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) beginning in Calendar Year (CY) 2019.
  • Finalizes an EHR reporting period of any consecutive 90-day period for new and returning eligible professionals and hospitals in CYs 2019 and 2020.

To learn more about these and other finalized changes, review the final rule, 2019 IPPS final rule or visit the CMS PI Programs webpage.

December 20, 2018 – CMS Released the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule. On November 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicare PFS Final Rule. This rule includes changes to the Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program, as well as for the Quality Payment Program (QPP) and Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Highlights for Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program changes are listed below:

eCQM Policies for PY 2019

  • The list of available eCQMs for EPs in 2019 was aligned with the list of eCQMs available for Eligible Clinicians under MIPS in 2019. Those eCQMs can be found at https://ecqi.healthit.gov/eligible-professional-eligible-clinician-ecqms.
  • In 2019, EPs who are returning meaningful users must report on a one year eCQM reporting period for and first-time meaningful users must report on a 90 day eCQM reporting period.
  • EPs are required to report on any six eCQMs related to their scope of practice.
  • In addition, Medicaid EPs are required to report on at least one outcome or high-priority measure. If there are no outcome or high priority measures relevant to an EP’s scope of practice, they may report on any six relevant measures.

Meaningful Use Policies

  • The threshold for Stage 3 Objective 6, Measure 1 (View, Download, Transmit) and Measure 2 (Secure Messaging) was set at 5% for the remainder of the Medicaid PI Program
  • The requirement that only EPs in urgent care settings can use the Syndromic Surveillance measure to meet the Objective 8 (Public Health) was removed.

To learn more about these and other finalized changes, review the final rule, 2019 PFS final rule or visit the CMS PI Programs webpage.

April 24, 2018 - CMS Renames the EHR Incentive Program to the “Promoting Interoperability (PI) Programs”. CMS is changing the name of the EHR Incentive Programs to the Promoting Interoperability Programs to continue the agency’s focus on improving patients’ access to health information and reducing the time and cost required of providers to comply with the programs’ requirements. This change will move the programs beyond the existing requirements of meaningful use to a new phase of EHR measurement with an increased focus on interoperability and improving patient access to health information.

To better reflect this focus, effective immediately CMS is renaming:

  • The EHR Incentive Programs to the Promoting Interoperability Programs for eligible hospitals, critical access hospitals, and Medicaid providers
  • The MIPS Advancing Care Information performance category to the Promoting Interoperability performance category for MIPS eligible clinicians

Please note that this rebranding does not merge or combine the EHR Incentive Programs and MIPS. In the coming weeks, New Jersey and CMS will be updating its websites and educational resources to reflect this change. This change along with additional rule changes to the Promoting Interoperability Program are published in the proposed rule for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTCH).

March 14, 2018 – Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Requirements for 2018 Attestation. The Medicaid EHR Incentive program requirements for Calendar Year 2018 attestations has been published in the CMS EHR Incentive Program website. The updated materials for the providers and hospitals attesting to either Modified Stage 2 or Stage 3 are available for download below. 

March 09, 2018 – Frequently Asked Questions on Medicare Hospital Attestation. For any questions regarding the attestation process, please refer to the below series of frequently asked questions published by CMS from recent Medicare hospital attestation webinars:

February 22, 2018 – Medicare Hospital Attestation Deadline Extended to March 16, 2018. For dually-eligible hospitals, the deadline for CY2017 attestation in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program has been changed from February 28, 2018 to March 16, 2018. This extension is being granted to provide hospitals additional time to submit the attestation as well as eCQM data.

February 01, 2018 – New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Attestation Deadline for Eligible Hospitals and Eligible Professionals for Calendar Year 2017. The deadline to attest for CY2017 in the New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program for eligible hospitals and eligible professionals is March 31, 2018.  However, for dually-eligible hospitals, the deadline for CY2017 attestation in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program is February 28, 2018. Subsequently, the eligible hospital will have until March 31, 2018 to submit their CY2017 attestation for the New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.

January 2, 2018 – Dually Eligible Medicaid and Medicare Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs): Remember to Use QualityNet for Attestation in 2018. As of January 2, 2018, dually eligible hospitals attesting in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program must register and attest for Medicare on the QNet portal. The registration information must be submitted and updated in the Registration and Attestation System. The change applies to calendar year (CY) 2017 attestations, as well as future reporting periods.

For any assistance related to registration and attestation process, please contact the QNet Help Desk.

December 1, 2017 – Attestation Workbooks for Eligible Professionals and Eligibile Hospitals Updated for CY2017 Attestations. The updated workbooks for the New Jersey EHR Incentive Program are available for providers attesting to either Modified Stage 2 or Stage 3 Meaningful Use and can be downloaded below:

October 27, 2017 – New Jersey Health Information Technology (HIT) Environmental Scan. The New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS), in the process of updating the State Medicaid Health Information Technology Plan (SMHP) conducted a Health Information Technology (HIT) Environmental Scan.   The purpose of the HIT Environmental Scan is to provide the State with an understanding of the current healthcare technology landscape which will assist in developing the strategy and future direction of the SMHP.  The report may be viewed by clicking the link below.

October 10, 2017 - Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals Attesting to CMS: Create Your Account in the QualityNet Secure Portal for Meaningful Use Attestations in 2018. Beginning January 2, 2018, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) attesting to CMS will submit their 2017 meaningful use (MU) attestations through the QualityNet Secure Portal (QNet). Eligible hospitals and CAHs attesting to CMS must have an active and updated QNet account before submitting MU attestations.

Enroll and Update Your QNet Account

Beginning in October:

  • Eligible hospitals and CAHs attesting to CMS who are new to the QNet system need to enroll to create a QNet account and select the MU option.
  • Eligible hospitals and CAHs attesting to CMS who are existing QNet users need to select the MU option in their QNet accounts.

For a step-by-step guide to enrolling in QNet and adding the MU option to your QNet account, review the QualityNet Secure Portal Enrollment and Login User Guide.

August 25, 2017 – EHR Incentive Program Changes in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Final Rule (FY2018 IPPS). On August 2, 2017, CMS published the FY2018 IPPS final rule. This final rule included changes and updates that impact the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs for CY2017 and CY2018 attestations of eligible professionals (EP) and eligible hospitals (EH).

Changes to Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) for EH

For CY2017:

Reporting period: For EH reporting CQMs electronically that demonstrate meaningful use for the first time in 2017 or that have demonstrated meaningful use in any year prior to 2017, the reporting period will be one self‑selected quarter (or 90 days in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program) of CQM data in CY2017.

CQMs: If an EH is only participating in the EHR Incentive Program or is participating in both the EHR Incentive Program and the Hospital IQR Program, the eligible hospital or CAH will report on at least four (self-selected) of the available CQMs electronically.

For CY2018:

Reporting period: For EH reporting CQMs electronically that demonstrate meaningful use for the first time in 2018 or that have demonstrated meaningful use in any year prior to 2018, the reporting period will be one self-selected quarter (or 90 days in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program) of CQM data in CY 2018. For the Medicare EHR Incentive Program only, the submission period for reporting CQMs electronically will be the two months following the close of the calendar year, ending February 28, 2019.

CQMs: For EH participating only in the EHR Incentive Program or is participating in both the EHR Incentive Program and the Hospital IQR Program, the EH will report on at least four (self-selected) of the available CQMs electronically.

For CY2017 and CY2018, EHs that report CQMs by attestation under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program as a result of electronic reporting not being feasible and for EHs that report CQMs by attestation (manual data entry) under their State’s Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, they are required to report on all 16 available CQMs for the full CY (consisting of four quarterly data reporting periods). CMS also established an exception to this full-year reporting period for EHs demonstrating meaningful use for the first time under the State’s Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. Under this exception, the CQM reporting period is any continuous 90-day period within the CY.

Changes to Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) for EP

For CY2017:

Reporting Periods: For 2017, CMS is modifying the CQM reporting period for EPs in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program to be a minimum of a continuous 90-day period during CY2017.

CQMs: For 2017, EPs are no longer required to report CQMs based on 3 National Quality Domains (NQS). EPs may report any 6 (self-selected) CQMs from the list of 53 available CQMs. CMS is aligning the specific CQMs available to EPs participating in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program with those available to professionals participating in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System removing 11 CQMs (see table below) from the list of 64 CQMs. 

Measure

Title

CMS61v6

Preventive Care and Screening: Cholesterol - Fasting Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL-C) Test Performed

CMS62v5

HIV/AIDS: Medical Visit

CMS64v6

Preventive Care and Screening: Risk-Stratified Cholesterol -Fasting Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL-C)

CMS77v5

HIV/AIDS: RNA Control for Patients with HIV

CMS126v5

Use of Appropriate Medications for Asthma

CMS140v5

Breast Cancer: Hormonal Therapy for Stage I (T1b)-IIIC Estrogen Receptor/Progesterone Receptor (ER/PR) Positive Breast Cancer

CMS141v6

Colon Cancer: Chemotherapy for AJCC Stage III Colon Cancer Patients

CMS148v5

Hemoglobin A1c Test for Pediatric Patients

CMS163v5

Diabetes: Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL-C) Control (< 100 mg/dL)

CMS179v5

ADE Prevention and Monitoring: Warfarin Time in Therapeutic Range

CMS182v6

Ischemic Vascular Disease (IVD): Complete Lipid Profile and LDL-C Control (<100 mg/dL)

Additional Changes to the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs

For 2018, CMS is finalizing the modification to the EHR reporting periods for new and returning participants attesting to CMS or their state Medicaid agency from the full year to a minimum of any continuous 90-day period during the calendar year.

CMS is finalizing the addition of a new exception from the Medicare payment adjustments for EPs, eligible hospitals, and CAHs that demonstrate through an application process that compliance with the requirement for being a meaningful EHR user is not possible because their certified EHR technology has been decertified under ONC’s Health IT Certification Program.

CMS is also finalizing an exception to the 2017 and 2018 Medicare payment adjustments for ambulatory surgical center (ASC)-based EPs and defining ACS-based EPs as those who furnishes 75 percent or more of their covered professional services in an ASC, using Place of Service (POS) code 24 to identify services furnished in an ASC.

CMS is adopting final policies to allow healthcare providers to use either 2014 Edition CEHRT, 2015 Edition CEHRT, or a combination of 2014 Edition and 2015 Edition CEHRT, for an EHR reporting period in 2018. This policy is based on the ongoing monitoring of progress on the deployment and implementation status of EHR technology certified to the 2015 Edition, as well as feedback by stakeholders expressing the need for more time and resources are needed for the transition process. All new and returning participants attesting to CMS or their State Medicaid agency have the option to attest to the Modified Stage 2 objectives and measures for the EHR reporting period in 2018 using 2014 Edition CEHRT, 2015 Edition CEHRT, or a combination of 2014 and 2015 Edition CEHRT, as long as the EHR Technology they possess can support the objectives and measures to which they plan to attest. Similarly, all new and returning participants attesting to CMS or their State Medicaid agency have the option to attest to the Stage 3 objectives and measures for the EHR reporting period in 2018 using 2015 Edition CEHRT or a combination of 2014 and 2015 Edition CEHRT, as long as their EHR technology can support the functionalities, objectives and measures for Stage 3.

Please review the final rule for detailed information.

June 29, 2017 – Hardship exemption information for Medicare Eligible Professionals (EP) and Eligible Hospitals (EH). To avoid a Medicare payment adjustment, EPs and EHs who are eligible to participate in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, must successfully demonstrate meaningful use in either the Medicare EHR Incentive Program or in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, Medicaid EP who do not furnish covered professional services under Medicare are not subject to these payment adjustments. The deadline for Eligible Professionals (EPs) to submit Hardship forms for the 2018 payment adjustment, based on the 2016 EHR reporting period is July 01, 2017.

To be considered for an exception (to avoid a payment adjustment) providers must complete a Hardship Exception application and provide proof of the hardship. If approved, the hardship exception is valid for only one payment year. Providers need to submit a new application for subsequent years and in no case may a provider be granted an exception for more than 5 years.

For additional information on Hardship Exception, please visit the CMS Website.

April 26, 2017 - Review 2017 Program Requirements in the FY2017 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) / Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Final Rule on the EHR Incentive Programs Website. Providers who have not demonstrated meaningful use successfully in a prior year and are seeking to demonstrate meaningful use for the first time in 2017 to avoid the 2018 payment adjustment must attest to Modified Stage 2 objectives and measures. Providers who have demonstrated meaningful use successfully in a previous year may attest to Stage 3 objectives and measures starting in 2017.

CMS encourages eligible hospitals, CAHs, and dual-eligible hospitals to visit the EHR Incentive Programs website for more details about the 2017 program requirements outlined below.

OPPS/ASC Final Rule with Comment Period:

  • Eliminated the Clinical Decision Support (CDS), and the Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) objectives and measures beginning in 2017;
  • Reduced the threshold for the View, Download or Transmit (VDT) measure of the Patient Electronic Access Objective to at least one unique patient (or patient-authorized representative) for Modified Stage 2;
  • Reduced the thresholds for a subset of Patient Electronic Access to Health Information, Coordination of Care through Patient Engagement, Health Information Exchange, and Public Health Reporting and Clinical Data Registry measures for Stage 3;
  • Added new naming conventions for measures; and
  • Requires that actions occur within the EHR reporting period, or the calendar year in which the EHR reporting period occurs, in order to be included in the numerators for specific measures.

April 24, 2017 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the proposed rule for FY2018 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTCH) rule on April 14, 2017. The proposed rule includes a number of changes to the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs summarized below:

  • For CY 2018, modifying the EHR reporting period from the full calendar year to a minimum of any continuous 90-day period for new and returning participants in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive programs.
  • Adding a new exception from the Medicare payment adjustments for Eligible Professionals (EPs), Eligible Hospitals, and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) that demonstrate through an application process that complying with the requirement for being a meaningful EHR user is not possible because their certified EHR technology has been decertified under ONC’s Health IT Certification Program.
  • Implementing a policy in which no payment adjustments will be made for EPs who furnish “substantially all” of their covered professional services in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC); applicable for the 2017 and 2018 Medicare payment adjustments.
  • Using Place of Service (POS) code 24 to identify services furnished in an ASC as well as requesting public comment on whether other POS codes or mechanisms should be used to identify sites of service in addition to or in lieu of POS code 24.

 Formal comments may be submitted by June 13, 2017. To learn more, review the proposed rule and visit the CMS website.

Program Year 2016 is the last year that Eligible Professionals (EPs) may begin participation in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. Participation information may be obtained by contacting the New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Helpdesk at (800-767-145 option 7) or the Medicaid Provider Program of the NJ-HITEC, the State’s Regional Extension Center. The deadline date for CY2016 attestations is March 31, 2017.

March 30, 2017 – New Jersey Medicaid Receives CMS Approval on State Medicaid HIT Plan (SMHP), December 2016 Update.  The New Jersey State Medicaid Health Information Technology Plan (SMHP) was been developed in accordance with the provisions of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) section 4201.  The SMHP is intended to provide CMS with an understanding of the activities New Jersey Medicaid currently anticipates engaging in for the implementation and ongoing operation of these ARRA provisions as well as implementation of the provisions in ongoing regulatory changes and requirements relevant to the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.  The updated SMHP dated December 2016 may be viewed from this link.

February 7, 2017 - Alternate Medicare MU Attestations available to Medicaid EPs for PY 2016 during the CMS Reporting Period (January-March 13, 2017).  Medicaid Eligible Providers (EPs) who do not qualify to attest to Meaningful Use (MU) with Medicaid for Program Year or Calendar Year 2016 may attest to MU with Medicare in order to avoid Payment Adjustments in 2017 (if they are 1st-time MU attesters in PY 2016) or in 2018 (if they are returning MU attesters in PY 2016).

The Alternate Medicare MU attestation will now be available to Medicaid EPs who have registered for PY 2016 at the CMS Registration & Attestation UI (CMS RNA), and whose registration had been confirmed by New Jersey Medicaid at the CMS RNA between January 3rd, 2017 and March 13th, 2017.

Note that the end date for the CMS Medicare PY 2016 Reporting period has been extended from February 28, 2017 to March 13, 2017.

PLEASE NOTE: Although the Alternate Medicare MU attestation is done by the Medicaid EP with CMS (through CMS RNA), the registration of the Medicaid EP with the New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program has to be confirmed before the Medicaid EP can proceed with submitting the MU attestation in CMS RNA. In other words, even though a Medicaid EP has registered at the CMS RNA for PY 2016, the Medicaid EP cannot proceed with the Alternate Medicare MU attestation at the CMS RNA – the MU attestation menus do not become available – until New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program confirms the Medicaid EP’s registration. To do this, after the EP had registered in the CMS RNA, New Jersey Medicaid must confirm eligibility and send a response to CMS/NLR before the EP can proceed with the Medicare MU attestation. New Jersey Medicaid recommends that the EP must allow at least 24 hours for this process to be completed.

There is no incentive payment for successfully completing the Alternate Medicare MU attestation. It is for avoiding Medicare payment adjustments only.  EPs encountering difficulties at the CMS RNA attempting the Alternate Medicare MU attestation after New Jersey Medicaid has confirmed the EP’s registration may contact the CMS Help Desk/EHR Information Center for assistance: (888) 734-6433/ TTY: (888) 734-6563 and select option 1. Hours are from Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. EST.

December 9, 2016 – 90-day EHR Reporting Period for 2016 in the New Jersey EHR Incentive Program Attestation Application. In compliance with the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs provision included in the Final Rule for Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System for calendar year (CY) 2017, New Jersey completed all the necessary revisions to the attestation application or Provider Incentive Payment (PIP) system to allow eligible providers to attest using a 90-day EHR reporting period for CY2016.

November 1, 2016 – The Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System for calendar year (CY) 2017. The Final Rule for the OPPS and ASC was released, this rule includes a number of proposed changes that would affect the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, including:

  • Eliminating the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) and Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) objectives and measures beginning in 2017 for eligible hospitals and CAHs attesting to CMS, including:
    • Reducing a subset of thresholds for the remaining objectives and measures for Modified Stage 2 in 2017 and Stage 3 in 2017 and 2018.
    • Adding new naming conventions to measures for Modified Stage 2 and Stage 3 for Eligible Hospitals, critical access hospitals, and dual-eligible hospitals attesting to CMS.
  • Allowing all returning participants in the EHR Incentive Programs to report on a 90-day EHR reporting period in 2016 and 2017.
  • Implementing an application process for a one-time significant hardship exception to the Medicare EHR Incentive Program for certain eligible professionals in 2017 who are also transitioning to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

A CMS fact sheet was published to provide additional information.

September 9, 2016 – Total Medicaid Encounter Calculation Using 90-Day Period in the 12-Months Preceding the Attestation (Volume “Look-Back” Period). New Jersey, with approval from CMS, will now allow the option for new eligible professionals (EPs) intending to attest for their first Medicaid EHR Incentive Program payment, to use a continuous 90-day period in the 12-months preceding the attestation to establish their Medicaid patient volume. New participating providers may select this option in place of the current preceding calendar year reporting period. This change was approved by CMS with the following provisions:

  1. In order to verify Medicaid volume eligibility, the State will conduct pre-payment inspections for all attestations that utilized the 12-month volume “look-back” period.
  2. If the 12-month volume look-back period falls under the preceding calendar year of attestation, the attestation will undergo the currently established volume reporting attestation process.
  3. The 12-month volume look-back period option will only be made available in calendar year 2016 and only for EPs attesting for their first Medicaid EHR Incentive Program payment.
  4. For practices with new EPs and other EPs that previously participated in the EHR Incentive Program, new EPs will attest utilizing a group proxy with a 12-month look-back volume reporting period and returning EPs will use group proxy with the previous calendar year volume reporting period.
  5. Returning EPs that reported a 90-day patient volume using the 12-month look-back period in CY2016 will be instructed to report a 90-day patient volume using the preceding calendar year in their subsequent attestation years.

Please contact Molina Provider Services for additional information.

June 28, 2016 – Medicare Eligible Professionals: Take Action by July 1 to Avoid 2017 Medicare Payment Adjustment. The Medicare EHR Incentive Program 2017 hardship exception instructions and application for EPs and eligible hospitals are available on the Payment Adjustments & Hardship Information webpage of the EHR Incentive Programs website. As a reminder, the application must be submitted electronically or postmarked no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on July 1, 2016 to be considered.

In addition, providers who are not considered eligible professionals under the Medicare program are not subject to payment adjustments and do not need to submit an application. Those types of providers include:

  • Medicaid only
  • No claims to Medicare
  • Hospital-based

Additional information regarding payment adjustments & hardship exception for Medicare eligible professionals is available from the CMS EHR Incentive Program website.

June 1, 2016 – Deadline Extension for CMS NLR Registration for First-time Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Participants for Program Year 2016. CMS plans to extend the current registration deadline of December 31, 2016 to March 31, 2017. This welcome change allows first-time participants to register up to the New Jersey attestation deadline for Program Year 2016. New Jersey recommends that providers register at least one week before the March 31 deadline to allow registration information to be transmitted from the federal site to the state attestation application.

April 19, 2016 - Resources for Participation in the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs in 2016. To help eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) successfully participate in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs in 2016, CMS posted new resources on the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website.

February 17, 2016 – Attestation Deadline for Eligible Hospitals and Eligible Professionals for Calendar Year 2015. The last day to attest for CY2015 in the New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program for eligible hospitals and eligible professionals is March 31, 2016.

February 17, 2016 – Attestation Update: Clinical Quality Measure Reporting Periods. Eligible providers demonstrating meaningful use for the first time are allowed to submit a CQM 90-day reporting period that is different than the 90-day meaningful use/EHR reporting period within the calendar year.

February 17, 2016 – Attestation Update: Reporting Measures Extracted From Patient Records Maintained Using Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) or All Patient Records. For the objectives, such as CPOE or ePrescription, where the provider is permitted, but not required, to limit the measures of the objectives to patients whose records are maintained using CEHRT, providers are required, as customary, to maintain auditable supporting documents.  In the audit process, the State’s auditors will perform additional testing procedures to determine accuracy of reported data.

February 3, 2016 – Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 Attestations in the New Jersey EHR Incentive Program Approved by CMS. The New Jersey EHR Incentive Program have received final approval from CMS for the Modifications to Meaningful Use 2015-2017 changes and will start accepting and processing all submitted attestations after all additional screen revisions are applied. We appreciate the patience of all our providers waiting to attest for CY2015 and we look forward to assisting providers and practices in their attestations.

December 15, 2015 – New Jersey EHR Incentive Program Attestations with Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 Specifications.  In compliance with the Modifications to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 final rule, New Jersey completed all the necessary revisions to the attestation application to allow eligible professional attestations for CY2015 with the modified meaningful use specifications. We are currently awaiting final approval from CMS to start prepayment processing of the submitted attestations.

November 30, 2015 – Enhancement of Attestation System’s Supporting Document Upload Functionality. The supporting document upload functionality in the New Jersey EHR Incentive Program attestation application was recently enhanced. This enhancement, in the “Add Document” section of the attestation, will allow attesting providers to designate document categories to the documents that are being uploaded during attestation. The category choices are “Patient Volume”, “Certified EHR Technology”, “Meaningful Use Report/Dashboard (Only)”, “Meaningful Use (Other Documentation)” and “General”. The system was also improved where providers attesting for Meaningful Use will be required to upload their Meaningful Use report/dashboard and select the corresponding document category of “Meaningful Use Report/Dashboard (Only)” prior to submitting the completed attestation. The State expects that the new document category system enhancement will assist providers in supporting document management and streamline the attestation appeal process, while the MU dashboard requirement will reduce adverse audit findings.  

November 18, 2015 – Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 Effective Date on December 15, 2015.  The New Jersey EHR Incentive Program staff has been receiving calls on when eligible providers may attest for CY2015 with the Modifications to MU specifications. Based on the effective date of the new regulation, New Jersey plans to enable the attestation application with the Modifications to MU changes on December 15, 2015, pending CMS approval on the State submission of the required changes. Also, after December 15, 2015, the State will no longer accept MU attestations for any objective or measure which was removed and considered redundant, duplicative or topped out as defined in the final rule for Stage 3 of Meaningful Use and Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017.

October 6, 2015 – CMS and ONC Release the Final Rules for the EHR Incentive Program, Stage 3 of Meaningful Use and Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 and the 2015 Edition CEHRT.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) today released the final rules with comment period for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHRs) Incentive Programs - Stage 3 and Modifications to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 and the final rules for 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria (2015 Edition). Below are links and fact sheets to the final rules.

CMS Stage 3 and Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 – Final Rule
ONC 2015 Edition CEHRT Certification Criteria – Final Rule

CMS Stage 3 and Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 – Fact Sheet
ONC Stage 3 and 2015 Edition CEHRT – Fact Sheet

September 24, 2015 – CMS’ New Webpage for Past Program Requirements and Resources. CMS has created a new webpage on the EHR Incentive Programs website that contains all the program requirements and resources for previous years of the EHR Incentive Programs. Along with FAQs, the webpage is organized in a manner that allows users to readily retrieve specific information. Please select the link above to access the webpage.

September 10, 2015 – Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of National Health IT Week on October 5 thru 9, 2015. NHIT Week is a collaborative forum and virtual awareness week that assembles key healthcare constituents dedicated to working together to elevate the necessity of advancing health through the best use of information technology.

In celebration of NHIT Week, NJ-HITEC is conducting the 3rd Annual Medicaid Provider Meaningful Use event, "Road to Health IT Quality and Value" on October 7, Wednesday, at the NJIT campus in Newark. NJ-HITEC understands the importance of education, and will provide attendees with pertinent Health IT information that is necessary for successful participation in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Payment Program and Meaningful Use attestation.

July 1, 2015 – Updated Stage 2 Summary of Care FAQ Provides Guidance on Measure #3. CMS released a new FAQ with changes related to measure 3 of the Summary of Care objective in MU Stage 2 effective July 1, 2015. The change is associated with the discontinuation of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) EHR-Randomizer application, which is one of the options in meeting measure 3.

In summary, providers will be allowed to meet measure 3 either by, (1) transmission of summary care record to a recipient who has a different EHR vendor, within the calendar year but not beyond the EHR reporting period or attestation date or (2) attest “Yes” if the provider do not normally exchange summary of care records as common practice as long as the provider provides documentation of such circumstance and is using an EHR that is certified to send the summary of care document.

May 15, 2015 – ONC CHPL 4.0 Released. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL) was recently updated to version 4.0. The new release includes a completely refined user interface with improved search functions, better filtering options and new product selection processes.

Below are links to the new site as well as additional information

May 12, 2015 – CMS and ONC NPRMs Now Available for Comment. CMS and ONC invite the public to submit comments on the recently released notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRMs) announced in the program news item below dated April 15, 2015. Below are the due dates and links for comments to the proposed rules.

Comments due May 29

Comments due June 15

The New Jersey Regional Extension Center, NJ-HITEC, is also providing a Meaningful Use Proposed Rules: Stakeholder Webinar on May 18, 2015, 2:00pm-3:30pm. They will be providing a brief on the Meaningful Use Stage 3 and 2015-2017 Modifications NPRMs. The webinar will provide a forum for NJ stakeholders to provide their comments and NJ-HITEC will submit on their behalf. Select this link to register.

April 15, 2015 – CMS Releases Two Proposed Rules for the EHR Incentive Program, Stage 3 of Meaningful Use and Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017. On March 23, 2015, CMS released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for Stage 3 of Meaningful Use, the next step in the implementation of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Program. Concurrently, ONC also announced the proposed 2015 Edition certification criteria for health IT products. The CMS NPRM specifies the Stage 3 requirements for eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals to qualify for Medicaid EHR incentive payments and avoid Medicare payment adjustments in 2018 and beyond. ONC’s proposed rule outlines the certification and standards to help providers meet the proposed Stage 3 requirements with a 2015 Edition Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT). On April 10, 2015, CMS issued a new proposed rule to align Stage 1 and Stage 2 objectives and measures with the long-term proposals for Stage 3, to build progress toward program milestones, to reduce complexity, and to simplify providers’ reporting. These modifications to meaningful use, intended to take effect in the 2015-2017 attestations, would allow providers to focus more closely on the advanced use of certified EHR technology to support health information exchange and quality improvement. Below are links and fact sheets to the proposed rules.

CMS EHR Incentive Program Stage 3 – Proposed Rule
ONC 2015 Edition CEHRT Certification Criteria – Proposed Rule
CMS Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 – Proposed Rule

CMS EHR Incentive Program Stage 3 – Press Release
ONC Stage 3 and 2015 Edition CEHRT – Fact Sheet
CMS Modification to Meaningful Use in 2015-2017 – Fact Sheet

March 11, 2015 – CY2014 Attestation Deadline for Eligible Professionals in the New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.  Eligible Professionals have until 11:59 pm ET on March 31, 2015 to submit their CY2014 attestation for the New Jersey EHR Incentive Program. After this date, on April 1, 2015, the provider incentive payment system will start to accept CY2015 attestations.

March 2, 2015 – CMS Extends Deadline for Eligible Professionals (EP) to Switch EHR Incentive Program (from Medicare to Medicaid, or vice versa) and for Medicare Eligible Professionals to Attest to Meaningful Use.  CMS released a notice on February 25, 2015 announcing that EPs, who have not already used their one “switch”, to switch programs (from Medicare to Medicaid, or vice versa) for the 2014 payment year will have until 11:59 pm ET on March 20, 2015 to make the program switch.  After that time, EPs will no longer be able to switch programs.  The previous deadline date to allow the program switch was February 28, 2015. Additionally, the Medicare attestation deadline for CY2014 was also extended to March 20, 2015, from the previous deadline of February 28, 2015. Please note that this deadline date does not apply to the New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, the deadline for EPs to submit the attestation for a CY2014 New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program payment remains March 31, 2015.

February 12, 2015 – Last Year for Eligible Hospitals to Begin Participation and Receive Payments in the Medicaid and Medicare EHR Incentive Program.  CMS released an announcement on February 11, 2015 for eligible hospitals who have not started participation in the EHR Incentive Programs. For the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, the last year to begin and still earn incentive payments is FY2015. For the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, the last year to begin and still earn incentive payments is FY2016. Medicaid eligible hospitals must receive an incentive in FY2016 to receive an incentive in FY2017 and later years. Starting in FY2016, incentive payments must be made every year in order to continue participation in the program.

November 24, 2014 – Hardship Exception Applications to Avoid the 2015 Medicare Payment Adjustment - IMPORTANT NOTE: The New Jersey Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services is NOT responsible for administering the Medicare payment adjustment and cannot grant exemptions from the payment adjustment.  All requests for additional information on the payment adjustment should be directed to CMS.

Additional details as well as application instructions regarding this update may be obtained from the Payment Adjustments and Hardship Exceptions webpage.

October 20, 2014 – New CMS FAQ on "How can a provider meet the Protect Electronic Health Information core objective...?” CMS released this FAQ to provide updated guidance on meeting this objective. The FAQ states that the steps required to conduct or review security risk analysis may be completed outside or the EHR reporting period timeframe but must take place no earlier than the start of the reporting year and end of the reporting year. Additional details may be obtained from the CMS FAQ10754.

August 20, 2014 - New CMS rule allows flexibility in certified EHR technology for 2014. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a final rule that allows health care providers more flexibility in how they use certified electronic health record (EHR) technology (CEHRT) to meet meaningful use for an EHR Incentive Program reporting period for 2014. Additional details on this Final Rule may be obtained from the EHR Incentive Programs 2014 CEHRT Rule: Quick Guide provided through the CMS.gov webpage.

June 25, 2014 - Eligible Professionals looking for information on the Medicare payment adjustments that will be applied in 2015 for Medicare providers that have not attested to meaningful use through either the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs should access the CMS Payment Adjustments & Hardship Exemptions website and review the CMS Payment Adjustments & Hardship Exceptions Tipsheet for Eligible Professionals.

This tip sheet provides an overview of the payment adjustment, including background information on the adjustment, deadlines for EPs to complete attestations in order to avoid being subject to the adjustment, and instructions for applying for hardship exemptions. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: The New Jersey Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services is NOT responsible for administering the Medicare payment adjustment and cannot grant exemptions from the payment adjustment.  All requests for additional information on the payment adjustment should be directed to CMS.

Frequently Asked Questions related to the New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program can be found below.

     New Jersey Medicaid FAQs
     CMS Medicaid and Medicare Incentive Program FAQs

Medicaid Eligible Professionals: To register for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, eligible professionals must register with the CMS National Level Repository (NLR) and elect to enroll in the New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. Upon successfully registering with the NLR, providers will receive an e-mail from the State informing them that the State has received their registration information and will be able to begin the attestation process once the State's attestation system is available.

Note: Eligible professionals will have until March 31, 2016 to register and attest for a Medicaid EHR Incentive Program payment related to calendar year 2015.

Additional information about the registration and attestation processes can be found below:

Introduction to the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program for Eligible Professionals
NLR Registration User Guide for Medicaid Eligible Professionals
New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Attestation Workbook for Eligible Professionals
New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Attestation Application Manual for Eligible Professionals

Hospitals: Hospitals that have registered with the National Level Repository (NLR) for both the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Payment Programs should choose New Jersey as the state from which they will receive their Medicaid EHR Incentive Payment.  Hospitals that have not registered for a Medicare incentive payment are able to register for both the Medicare and Medicaid programs and choose New Jersey as their Medicaid state.  Hospitals can begin the registration process here. Upon successfully registering with the NLR and choosing New Jersey as their Medicaid state, hospitals will receive an e-mail from the State informing them that their registration information has been received and that they will be able to begin the attestation process once the State's attestation system is available.

Additional information about the registration and attestation processes can be found below:

NLR Registration Guide for Hospitals (covers both the Medicare and Medicaid Incentive Payment Programs)
New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Payment Program Attestation Worksheet for Eligible Hospitals
New Jersey Medicaid EHR Incentive Payment Program Attestation User Guide for Eligible Hospitals

Medicare Eligible Professionals: New Jersey Medicare health care practitioners who are eligible for incentive payments for adopting and implementing an electronic health records system, and becoming a meaningful EHR user, can now register for the program via the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website.

Click here for detailed instructions about the CMS NLR registration process for Medicare Eligible Professionals.

Last Reviewed: 3/1/2021