HealthDay News — The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have extended another deadline for the Medicare electronic health record (EHR) Incentive Program, according to an article in Medical Economics.

“This extension will allow more time for providers to submit their meaningful use data and receive an incentive payment for the 2013 program year, as well as avoid the 2015 payment adjustment,” CMS stated in a press release. 

As a result of pressure from clinician groups and EHR developers who requested more time to improve interoperability, patient engagement and other requirements, in December 2013 the CMS extended Meaningful Use Stage 2 deadlines through 2016 and Stage 3 attestation in 2017.


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To help providers meet the Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements, last month a new tool was released by CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.The tool, called the EHR Randomizer, was developed to assist healthcare providers in meeting the interoperability requirement by exchanging data with established test EHR systems.

The article notes that the deadline for submission of data for the 2013 reporting year has been extended from Feb. 28, 2014. Providers must now submit data by March 31, 2014 at 11.59 p.m. EST.