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 13 core criteria that physicians must meet, and another 5 from a menu set of 9.
This tool was created to assist physicians with the meaningful use criteria. Currently, five 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[at]texmed[dot]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.
Optional Alternate: More than 30 percent of medication orders created by the Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional during the EHR reporting period are recorded using CPOE.
* 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 interaction checks
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.
*Exclusions:
- Any eligible physician (EP) or other eligible professional who writes fewer than 100 prescriptions during the EHR reporting period.
- Any eligible physician (EP) or other eligible professional who does not have a pharmacy within their organization and there are no pharmacies that accept electronic prescriptions within 10 miles of the EP's practice location at the start of his/her EHR reporting period.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(4) Demographics
Record demographics for more than 50 percent of all unique patients seen: (A) preferred language, (B) Gender, (C) Race, (D) Ethnicity, and (E) 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
For more than 50 percent of all unique patients, record vital signs: (1) height (for all ages), (2) weight (for all ages), and (3) blood pressure (for patients age 3 and over only);
chart changes: (1) calculate and display BMI, and (2) plot and display growth chart for children 0-20 years, including BMI.
(The certified EHR technology will calculate BMI and the growth chart if applicable to patient based on age.)
*Exclusion: Any Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional who:
- Sees no patients 3 years or older is excluded from recording blood pressure;
- Believes that all three vital signs of height, weight, and blood pressure have no relevance to their scope of practice is excluded from recording them;
- Believes that height and weight are relevant to their scope of practice, but blood pressure is not, is excluded from recording blood pressure; or
- Believes that blood pressure is relevant to their scope of practice, but height and weight are not, is excluded from recording height and weight.
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) Clinical 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) Patient electronic access
Provide more than 50 percent of all patients the ability to view online, download and transmit their health information within four business days of the information being available to the Eligible Physician (EP) or other eligible professional.
*Exclusion: Any EP who neither orders nor creates any of the information listed for inclusion, except for "Patient name" and "Provider's name and office contact information, may exclude the measure.
Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(12) 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
(13) Privacy and security
Protect electronic health information created or maintained by the certified EHR technology through the implementation of appropriate technical capabilities. 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.
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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) Patient lists
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) 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
(6) 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
(7) 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
(8) 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, or where it is prohibited.
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Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
(9) 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, or if it is prohibited.
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Attestation Requirements and Additional Information
