Learn More About Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program Requirements for 2020

In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Final Rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) finalized changes to the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program for eligible hospitals, critical access hospitals (CAHs), and dual-eligible hospitals attesting to CMS.

The final rule adopted policies that will continue the advancement of certified EHR technology (CEHRT) utilization, further reduce burden, and increase interoperability and patient access to their health information.

Changes for 2020 include:

The Query of Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) Measure will remain optional, be worth 5 bonus points, and will require a Yes/No attestation (retroactive to 2019).
The Verify Opioid Treatment Agreement Measure has been removed.
A reduction from 16 Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) down to 8 total which are available to choose from, but participants must only report on 4 CQMs. The reporting period has also been changed to a self-selected calendar quarter.

The following requirements will continue unchanged as finalized in 2019:

Minimum of a continuous 90-day EHR reporting period for new and returning program participants
The requirement to use the 2015 Edition CEHRT
- Note: The 2015 Edition functionality must be in place by the first day of the EHR reporting period and the product must be certified to the 2015 Edition criteria by the last day of the EHR reporting period. The eligible hospital or CAH must be using the 2015 Edition functionality for the full EHR reporting period. In many situations the product may be deployed, pending certification.
A set of four required objectives:
- Electronic Prescribing
- Health Information Exchange
- Provider to Patient Exchange
- Public Health and Clinical Data Exchange
A performance-based scoring methodology (including completion of the Security Risk Analysis)

For More Information

For more information on the reporting requirements and additional Promoting Interoperability Program information, please visit the 2020 Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program Requirements webpage.