Home Forums Discussions Meaningful Use Successful Medicare attestation

We are glad to report our completion of the attestation just one hour ago. You can do it too.

I did mine Yesterday.October 2nd 2011 for the period 7/1/2011 to 10/1/2011.

Congrats! Any tips or suggestions for those of us who are preparing?

I should be ready next week. I didn't actually start doing it until mid july.

You go StLawrence!!

The only good tip is to follow the instruction provided by Ac in "How to do this in AC".
Good luck

It's great to hear that the "how to" info is on target.

It took me 45 minutes last night to attest on the CMS site. To my surprise, the whole experience is very smooth. It did not take too much effort to meet the MU stage I, thanks to AC!! The tips are:

1. Use V6.10 (the #s in CQM will not show by V6.09)
2. CPT coding
3. Follow AC's MU color codes

In 2012, it's also stage I for us "early birds" (except 12M, not 3M). It should be relatively easy. Any ideas about stage II in 2013?

Cindy

I received my electronic deposit payment today from CMS for an attestation date of 9/11/11! Good luck to everyone. It took about 6-8 weeks as CMS stated.

Congrats! I wonder if you are the first AC user to get your check.

Yes...congratulations! I started the attestation process and couldn't complete the registration due to a pecos # issue so now I am waiting for that to be straightened out. Make sure that all you pecos stuff....whatever that is....is current.

There is another physician here who has received their money too. Not an AC user but a happy meaningless user!

StLawrence,
Good point about pecos up to date, that also put me 2 weeks behind. I finished my attestation 4 weeks ago and waiting for deposit now. Good news that CMS is still paying for MU.
Congrats cars4cy.

I received a test deposit of $0.00 about 10 days prior to receive the full funds -- so those who have attested, if you receive the test deposit, it shouldn't be too much longer. A patient that works with another EMR software vendor says that many of the docs they work are getting paid as well -- so it should be coming for those waiting.

To Cindy and her query about 2013... for the moment, Medicare doesn't know yet what's coming. I spent an afternoon this week listening to CMS's CMO speak; her specialty when practicing was preventative care, and that's where she says it's heading. The bottom line, Part A will be broke by 2016 if not sooner, and the long-term fix is to use better data management to keep people from needing [and using] the services that Medicare/Medicaid would otherwise pay for, which having already completed the work for your three month attestation, you already know. Next time, it's a dozen, and I'm not speaking of eggs.

Congrats on your milestone.
Gnicoll

I got my standard check yesterday for an early September attestation.

OK...my first post, but a 7 year user of AC from the beginning. I too had a pecos error and thought I had registered. So I got the three medicare entities that I needed to talk with (3 hours of phone time), got the correct NPI numbers (I work in an 8 doc group but I am the only one doing EHR), and finished CMS attestation yesterday. So if and when I get a check what should I do with it - I am looking for ideas...thanks to all...todd

We did our attestation on Sept 21 and we got our test deposit on Monday - then yesterday it posted our final amount - looking forward to the actual deposit!! I think AC has made the process as easy as Medicare has allowed it to be! We are extrememly happy with AC - we needed no help with the process - (even though we were told by so many people we would fail if we tried ourselves!) I am a firm believer in AC and the people behind it trying to keep up with what the "powers to be" throw at us daily!

great to hear all the positive attestation results. Soon to start AC and find this encouraging. jimmie

I attested about 6 weeks ago and got my deposit last week. I don't know if I'm going to pursue the next step with the extra crap and hoops to jump through.

I am planning to attest next week - as our attestastation period ends October 31. Am a bit nervous/anxious. I DID READ on the CMS website SOMEWHERE that stage 2 of MU is not "planned" until 2013. GREAT - October 2013 is ICD-10; its gonna be a great year.....

We attested 2 days back, using V6.10 Amazing Charts.

I completed the attestation process on 10/26. It took me a couple of days, but only because of confusing instructions from CMS itself. If not for AC's Meaningful Use Wizard it would have been impossible. AC (Version 6.0.9) made it almost pleasant- really.

Once I figured out the key it went very quickly.

Here it is- in the Menu Items section you are asked to choose "up to 5" categories. The secret is- you need to choose EXACTLY 5- no more and no fewer.

My advice- go for it.

Speaking of MU and other CMS incentives, I'd like to provide a reminder to anyone that needs to submit a hardship /request letter to avoid the 1% penalty for not meeting the CMS e-rx requirement (code G8553 with appropriate denominator x 10 between 01/01/2011 and 06/30/2011). The e-application for providers/letter for groups have to be submitted or postmarked by November 1, 2011.

Any questions, don't wait for this forum, missing the deadline will result in net <1%> for 2012 Medicare claims... check with Medicare.

GDNicoll

Knee deep in mandates

I successfully attested this morning. Watch out for the switching of the field for the numerator and denominator. I believe that switch occurs after the Cores are completed, but don't quote me on that - just be aware.

So, once we've attested does that mean we can relax and forget about MU and checking all the needless boxes for a while? If I understand it correctly the criteria for Stage 2 aren't even finalized yet.

You can only forget about it until 1/1/2012.

For 2012, you use the same criteria as 2011, but collect the data for 12 months (instead of only 3).

so that means the sooner we attest, the more days we'll be free of having to collect meaningless data!

Hi all,

What is a camel?

A horse designed by a committee.

What is a caterpillar?

A horse designed by the Federal government.

I just attested. Things went smoothly. But I am left with the thought that an enormous amount of effort and time went into Meaningful Use on everyones part. Why? No clear answer to that.

Gene

Gene, if all goes well, soon you will get 18,000 answers.

Jon,

Well put, as always.

I only have so much energy per visit. It goes down as the years go by. For the last 3 months too much of that limited energy has gone to making sure that I have marked "white" in my 99% white population, "English" in my 100% English-speaking population, and making sure totally useless patient specific education and visit summary are attended to. Not to mention the agony of the first week or so on v6.0.09 with speed problems. Multiply that by tens of thousands of physicians.

I can only imagine what Jon Bertman and his developers went through. Multiply that by several hundred EMR companies.

How many collective hours have gone into this?

All of this, of course, is superimposed on the usual "Did I address enough RHM updates?", "Did I document enough to justify a 99214 visit?" and "Would this note stand up in court?"

I went into Family Medicine to take care of patients. I think I spend more time and effort explaining and justifying what I did, than actually doing it.

But all the above will be forgotten for a brief time when the check comes.....

Gene