With the introduction of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), CMS has changed the reporting requirements for CPOE, though they have not eliminated the requirement altogether. Please note the following excerpt from pages 77220-77221 of the Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 214 / Friday, November 4, 2016 / Rules and Regulations:
Comment: One commenter urged CMS to clarify that even if the reporting of CPOE and CDS measures is eliminated under the primary proposal base score of the advancing care information performance category, MIPS eligible clinicians who utilize CPOE are still expected to utilize appropriately credentialed clinical staff to enter the orders and those who utilize CDS must have the required functionality turned on to receive credit in the advancing care information performance category base score.
Response: As for the functionality, even if the CPOE and CDS objectives and measures are not included for reporting under the advancing care information performance category, it is still expected that MIPS eligible clinicians will continue to have the functionality enabled as a part of CEHRT.
So while dermatology practices are no longer required to report these numbers, they are still expected by MACRA to utilize electronic medical records which require CPOE entry by appropriately credentialed staff. Confusing, right?
Finally, please note that Medicaid EHR incentives are still covered by the original Meaningful Use rule described here.
