OIG Releases Report on Meaningful Use Incentive Program

On Nov. 29, the Office of the Inspector General at HHS released a report concluding: “CMS faces obstacles to overseeing the Medicare EHR incentive program that leave the program vulnerable to paying incentives to professionals and hospitals that do not fully meet the meaningful use requirements. Currently, CMS has not implemented strong prepayment safeguards, and its ability to safeguard incentive payments postpayment is also limited.”  OIG recommends that ONC: “(1) require that certified EHR technology be capable of producing reports for yes/no meaningful use measures where possible and (2) improve the certification process for EHR technology to ensure accurate EHR reports. ONC concurred with both recommendations.”  The full report is available here.