CMS stands by physician EHR use to report chronic care management

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) final rule, released Oct. 31, has slightly loosened its proposal of requiring physicians to use electronic health records (EHR) to be reimbursed for chronic care management (CCM).The agency will now allow practices to use either 2014 or 2011 certified systems. However, CMS has reiterated its unchanged stance about adopting EHRs in its rule. "We continue to believe that it is necessary to require the use of EHR Technology that has been certified under the ONC Health IT Certification Program as requisite for receiving separate payment for CCM services, to ensure that practitioners have adequate capabilities to allow members of the interdisciplinary care team to have timely access to the most updated information informing the care plan," the agency states. Read the full story from FierceEMR