Registration & attestation

One of CHITREC’s core services is assisting providers and office managers with the administrative overhead of participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. CHITREC offers instructional materials and direct support with identifying which program each provider is eligible for, registering to participate in that program, and ultimately attesting to having met program requirements for that participation year. Submitting the right information to the right resource is critical to receiving incentives, and CHITREC helps ensure our members complete registration and attestation in a timely fashion.

Registration

Regardless of whether a provider is participating in the Medicare or Medicaid program, registration must be submitted to federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This is the first step on the path to payment, and can be completed whether or not an EHR has been selected or implemented in the practice. In most circumstances providers will receive confirmation of successful registration within a few days, but CHITREC can help identify a resolution if there are any issues.

Attestation

Unlike registration, the attestation process differs between the Medicare or Medicaid programs.

Medicare providers must attest to meeting Meaningful Use program requirements for 90 consecutive days in their first year of participation. This entails submitting data regarding EHR use in the form of numerators/denominators and yes/no responses.  CHITREC helps our members by assisting with gathering necessary reports from the EHR, verifying that provider performance meets compliance and assisting with submitting data through CMS web-based attestation system.

In the first year of participation, Medicaid EHR Incentive Program participants are only asked to attest to meeting eligibility requirements and having “adopted, implemented or upgraded” (AIU) a certified EHR product.  Attestation is performed through the HFS Medical Electronic Data Interchange (MEDI) system. CHITREC provides instructional material on collecting data to demonstrate meeting eligibility requirements and can assist with MEDI setup required to access and complete the attestation application. In the second year of participation, providers in the Medicaid program must attest to meeting Meaningful Use requirements for 90 consecutive days. This process is also completed within the MEDI system, and CHITREC will assist with data collection, verification and submission.

For Medicare, registration and attestation are completed through the CMS site.  Medicaid and it’s incentive program are administered by the state, so both CMS and Illinois HFS are involved.

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