Is there a way to exclude an encounter from Meaningful Use calculations? Here's why I'm asking.
Some patients are referred to my office for procedure only (EMG/NCV). While we perform a focused examination, if the patient is there only for the procedure, we don't take full histories or even document/review medications and such. A procedure report is generated, imported to the chart, and returned to the requesting provider.
A couple years ago we discovered that if we documented these appointments as encounters, they were being included in meaningful use and bringing our percentages down. So we started simply documenting a brief summary as an addendum/procedure, and importing the full report into imported items.
The problem with this is if that patient is referred for testing again in a year or two, which is not uncommon, there is no "previous appointment" that shows up in AC and my staff thing the patient has never been here before.
So I need a way to document an appointment without it being included in meaningful use calculations. Any ideas?
