The EHR incentive program began in 2011. Physicians who participate in the Medicare program can earn up to $44,000 over five years and physicians eligible for the Medicaid program can earn up to $63,750 over six years. To be eligible for the incentives, physicians must “meaningfully use” a certified electronic health record. There are 15 core criteria that physicians must meet, and another 5 from a menu set of 10.
This tool was created to assist physicians with the various meaningful use criteria. Currently, four EHR vendors are included in the toolkit. Questions about this tool and any other meaningful use questions should be directed to the HIT Helpline at (800) 880-5720 or e-mail HIT@texmed.org.
TMA gratefully acknowledges the Texas Medical Association Special Funds Foundation for its support
of this tool through funds awarded by
The Physicians Foundation for Health Systems Excellence.
To view all of the meaningful use measures in one document, click on the vendor logo below for the vendor solution. Or, view the core objectives and menu set items listed on this page to explore the individual measures and the vendor solutions for each item.
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Core Objectives:
Click on the vendor logo to view each EHR solution.
(1) Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE)
Use computerized physician order entry (CPOE) for more than 30 percent of unique patients with at least one medication in their medication list.
* Exclusion: Any eligible physician (EP) or other eligible professional who writes fewer than 100 prescriptions during the EHR reporting period.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(2) Drug Alerts
Implement drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
Attestation Requirements
(3) E-prescribing
Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically for more than 40 percent of all permissible prescriptions.
*Exclusion: Any eligible physician (EP) or other eligible professional who writes fewer than 100 prescriptions during the EHR reporting period.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(4) Demographics
Record demographics for more than 50 percent of all unique patients seen: (1) preferred language, (2) insurance type, (3) gender, (4) race, (5) ethnicity, and (6) date of birth.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(5) Problem list
Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses for more than 80 percent of all unique patients seen.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(6) Medication list
Maintain an active medication list for more than 80 percent of all unique patients seen.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(7) Medication allergy list
Maintain an active medication allergy list for more than 80 percent of all unique patients seen.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(8) Vital signs
Record vital signs: (1) height, (2) weight, and (3) blood pressure; and chart changes: (1) calculate and display BMI, and (2) plot and display growth chart for more than 50 percent of all unique patients seen that are age 2 and over.
*Exclusion: Any Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who either see no patients 2 years or older, or who believes that all three vital signs of height, weight, and blood pressure of their patients have no relevance to their scope of practice.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(9) Smoking status
Record smoking status for more than 50 percent of all unique patients seen that are 13 years old and older.
*Exclusion: Any Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who sees no patients 13 years or older.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(10) Decision support
Implement one clinical decision support rule relevant to specialty or high clinical priority along with the ability to track compliance with that rule.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(11) Quality measures
Report ambulatory quality measures to CMS or states. For 2011, provide aggregate numerator, denominator, and exclusions through attestation. For 2012, electronically submit measures.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(12) Copy of health information
Provide more than 50 percent of all patients who request it an electronic copy of their health information within three business days. Record should include (1) diagnostic test results, (2) problem list, (3) medication list, and (4) medication allergies.
*Exclusion: Any eligible provider that has no requests from patients or their agents for an electronic copy of patient health information during the EHR reporting period.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(13) Clinical summaries
Provide patients clinical summaries within three business days for more than 50 percent of all office visits.
*Exclusion: Any Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who has no office visits during the EHR reporting period.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(14) Data exchange
Perform at least one test indicating EHR's capability to electronically exchange key clinical information (such as problem list, medication list, medication allergies, diagnostic test results) among providers of care and patient-authorized entities.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
- information not provided |
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Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(15) Privacy and security
Protect electronic health information created or maintained by the EHR. Conduct or review a security risk analysis and implement security updates as necessary. Correct identified security deficiencies as part of risk management process.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
- information not provided |
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Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
Menu Set (Choose 5):
(1) Drug-formulary checks
Enable functionality for drug-formulary checks and have access to at least one internal or external drug formulary for the EHR reporting period.
* Exclusion: Any Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who writes fewer than 100 prescriptions during the EHR reporting period.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(2) Lab results
Incorporate clinical lab-test results into EHR as structured data for more than 40 percent of all clinical lab tests ordered whose results are either in a positive/negative or numerical format.
*Exclusion: An Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who orders no lab tests whose results are either in a positive/negative or numeric format during the EHR reporting period.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(3) Reporting by condition
Be able to generate at least one report listing patients with a specific condition.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(4) Patient reminders
During the EHR reporting period, send reminders to patients, per patient preference, for preventive/follow-up care for more than 20 percent of all unique patients 65 years old and older or 5 years old and younger.
*Exclusion: An Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who has no patients 65 years old or older or 5 years old or younger with records maintained using certified EHR technology.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(5) Timely access to patient's health information
Give patients timely electronic access to their health information, including (1) lab results, (2) problem list, (3) medication lists, and (4) medication allergies, within four business days of information being available, for more than 10 percent of all unique patients seen. This is subject to the physician's discretion to withhold certain information.
*Exclusion: Any Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional that neither orders nor creates lab tests or information that would be contained in the problem list, medication list, medication allergy list (or other information as listed at 45 CFR 170.304(g)) during the EHR reporting period.
- information not provided |
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Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(6) Patient education
Use the EHR to identify and provide patient-specific education resources to the patient if appropriate for more than 10 percent of all unique patients seen.
* Exclusion: No exclusion.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(7) Medication reconciliation
Perform medication reconciliation for more than 50 percent of patient transitions into the care of the physician.
*Exclusion: An Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who was not the recipient of any transitions of care during the EHR reporting period.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(8) Summary of care
Provide summary of care record for more than 50 percent of transitions of care and referrals when transitioning a patient to another setting of care or physician.
*Exclusion: An Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who neither transfers a patient to another setting nor refers a patient to another provider during the EHR reporting period.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(9) Immunization registries
Perform at least one test of EHR's capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries, and perform a follow-up submission if the test is successful.
*Exclusion: An Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who administers no immunizations during the EHR reporting period or where no immunization registry has the capacity to receive the information electronically.
- Information not provided |
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Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(10) Syndromic surveillance data for public health
Perform at least one test of EHR's capability to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies, and perform a follow-up submission if the test is successful.
*Exclusion: An Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who does not collect any reportable syndromic information on their patients during the EHR reporting period or does not submit such information to any public health agency that has the capacity to receive the information electronically.
- Information not provided |
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Attestation Requirements and Additional Information