Can 2-State Medicaid Providers Collect 2 EHR Incentives? – Meaningful Use Monday

Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts.

A Meaningful Use Monday reader asked whether a provider who practices near the border of two states and treats patients under the two distinct Medicaid programs can participate in both EHR incentive programs. A similar question has been asked by physicians who have practice locations in two neighboring states. The answer is “No”, even if the EP meets or exceeds the 30% patient volume threshold in both states. 

EPs can receive only one incentive each year, and they must choose the state from which they wish to receive the payment. They can, however, change states on an annual basis when they re-attest—flexibility which is valuable in the event that their Medicaid volume falls below the required level in the first state and they lose eligibility for that program. 

CMS created a single registration system for both incentive programs to enable the States to check for—and make them responsible for preventing—duplicate payments, whether from two states or from Medicaid and Medicare simultaneously. My next Meaningful Use Monday post will discuss the rules for switching between the Medicaid and Medicare EHR incentive programs.

About the author

Lynn Scheps

Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money.

1 Comment

  • I appreciate this clarification. What about hospitals in similar locales? I’d appreciate any clarification you can provide for entities other than EPs. Thanks!

Click here to post a comment
   

Categories