October 3 is the Last Day for EPs to Begin the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2012

Wednesday, October 3rd marks two important deadlines for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program:

1. The last day for eligible professionals (EPs) to begin their 90-day reporting period for calendar year (CY) 2012 for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. For EPs, this means that they must begin their consecutive 90-day reporting period by October 3rd in order to attest to meeting meaningful use and be eligible to receive an incentive payment for CY 2012.
2. The last day Medicare EPs can start participating and receive their maximum possible Medicare incentive payment. This is the last year that EPs can begin participation in the EHR Incentive Program and get the full Medicare incentives of $44,000 per EP. If first-year Medicare EPs have not started their 90-day reporting period by October 3rd, they will not be eligible for a CY 2012 payment, and can only receive $39,000 in Medicare incentives if they successfully participate in 2013.

For more information on how incentive payments are distributed, take a look at the EHR Basics page of the newly updated EHR website. For EPs who have already completed their reporting period, CMS has a number of tools available to help prepare for attestation, including the Meaningful Use Attestation Calculatorand Attestation User Guide for Eligible Professionals.

Looking Ahead
Take a look at all of the other EHR Incentive Program important dates that are coming up by going to our Health Information Technology Timeline.