No More Delays for Health IT Programs, Says Tavenner

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will not further delay the deadlines of any of its health information technology programs because agency officials see them as critical to the success of their payment-reform efforts, CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner said Feb. 27 at the Healthcare Information Management and System Society’s (HIMSS’s) conference in Orlando, Fla. Tavenner said the use of information technology by health care providers will play a key role in CMS’s efforts to tether Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement payments to clinical quality measure performance data. CMS is already working to do this through a number of Medicare programs such as the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program and the End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program. The ability to electronically record and report clinical quality measures—a requirement in Stage 2 of the meaningful use program—will be “critical to the success of these programs” and CMS’s overall goal of reducing the cost of care delivery, Tavenner said. “All of these programs use tools to link outcomes, link cost of care, link quality, and link payments together,” she said. Calls for Delay While CMS will make it easier for providers to obtain hardship exemptions in 2014 if they aren’t able to meet Stage 2 requirements of the meaningful use incentive program, Tavenner said the agency will not delay the penalty phase of the program. She also said CMS has no plans to extend the Oct. 1 ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision) implementation deadline. Health care industry associations warned the Department of Health and Human Services this week that hospitals could lose billions in Medicare reimbursement dollars without a delay to the meaningful use program or the transition to ICD-10. Despite those warnings, Tavenner said the ICD-10 transition has “already been delayed more than once and it’s time to move on.” “We’ve already delayed the adoption of the standard, a standard that the rest of the world uses,” she said. “There will not be a change in the deadline for ICD-10.” Takeaway: An additional delay for ICD-10 implementation and compliance with Stage 2 requirements of the meaningful use incentive program is unlikely.