Published: January 29, 2016

Meaningful Use changes in 2016?

According to Andy Slavitt, acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the physician community can expect major changes to Meaningful Use (MU) in 2016.


According to Andy Slavitt, acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the physician community can expect major changes to Meaningful Use (MU) in 2016. While speaking at a conference in mid-January, Slavitt said, “The Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, with its emphasis on a new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and alternative payment models, demands a new streamlined regulatory approach … In 2016, MU as it has existed—with MACRA—will now be effectively over and replaced with something better.” Slavitt continued on to say, “We have to get the hearts and minds of physicians back. I think we’ve lost them.”

As many AAO-HNS Members are aware, the Academy’s Health Policy and Legislative Advocacy teams have been working to promote greater flexibility, interoperability, and less stringent MU reporting requirements for physicians. Therefore, Slavitt’s announcement was welcomed by the Academy, and represents a long-sought recognition by policymakers that the MU program has not functioned as it was originally intended. As CMS moves forward with implementing a new or revised program under MACRA, the AAO-HNS, and our partners in the physician community, will remain diligent in our efforts to ensure the pitfalls of the original program are not replicated in the future.

The AAO-HNS recognizes the importance of this potential change for our Members. As such, information regarding any new or revised MU-related program will be provided as quickly as possible—via the Bulletin, ENTConnect, and/or other Academy communications.

 

 


More from February 2016 - Vol. 35, No. 01