Signed, sealed, delivered

EHR meaningful use exemption bill signed into law

Law intends to provide relief for physicians seeking hardship exemptions from Stage 2 meaningful use requirements to avoid penalties in 2017.

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On Monday, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Access and Medicare Protection Act, S. 2425, into law. The new law contains a provision that gives the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services the authority to provide blanket exemptions to physicians who apply for hardship exemptions from Stage 2 electronic health records meaningful use penalties.

The exemptions will not be automatic; physicians will need to apply by July 1, 2016 (deadline extended from March 15, 2016), but under the law, it is expected that CMS will no longer need to assess each application on a case-by-case basis to determine if it qualifies. CMS is expected to provide additional details on how physicians will be able to apply for the exemption, and the AOA will inform members when that information becomes available. Physicians do not need to take any action before the end of 2015 in order to qualify.

Physicians can read more of the AOA’s coverage of this here, and they can view the full text of the law here.

One comment

  1. Stephen Swetech, DO

    i was an employee of a large system in 2014 and used their emr–i still have the system, but am being penalized now that I am in solo practice! Can you please help me? thanks, Stephen Swetech

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