Although physicians have been given more time to comply with certain federal data-sharing provisions under the 21st Century Cures Act, other compliance regulations have not been delayed.
Many of the act’s information blocking regulations – which are meant to enable widespread access and sharing of electronic health information (EHI) among physicians and their patients – were delayed until April 5.
However, some of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) companion regulations will affect physicians this year.
The first is the public reporting and prevention of information blocking on Medicare’s Physician Compare site, which has been renamed Care Compare to incorporate its eight different compare tools.
Physicians participating in Medicare’s Quality Payment Program (QPP) must attest to three statements when submitting data as part of the Promoting Interoperability (PI) category.
The statements indicate whether a physician took deliberate actions to restrict the sharing of health information, commonly referred to as information blocking. CMS will use the statements to add “information blocking” as a category on the physician section of Care Compare. CMS indicated it would start reporting this information late in 2020 based on 2019 attestations.
Take a moment to look yourself up on Care Compare to be sure the CMS is accurately reflecting your information. If you need to update your information, review this resource from CMS on how to do so.
The second provision is the requirement to upload your digital contact information via the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) by Dec. 31. The public directory is meant to facilitate the secure sharing of patient information and to enhance coordinated care among physicians.
Upload your contact information online; however, CMS will not assess a penalty at this time for failure to do so.
TMA anticipates CMS will publish a list of physicians and other providers who have not provided their digital contact information by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
Questions about these regulations or other office technologies may be directed to TMA’s health information technology department via email.
Last Updated On
November 24, 2020
Originally Published On
November 24, 2020