Meaningful Use for Specialists

Do you understand how meaningful use is defined for your specialty? Contact Government Affairs at SRS for an explanation. Our Vice President of Government Affairs will be happy to speak with you and answer your specific questions.

From the inception of the HITECH Act, and as the appointed committees formulated their recommendations for the regulations that would govern the EHR incentives program, SRS has actively represented the voice of the physician in Washington—in particular, speaking out about the need to consider the relevance for specialists.

To make the EHR incentives applicable to specialists, as well as to primary-care providers, the Final Rule on Meaningful Use allows for some exclusions for physicians when specific measures are not relevant to the scope of their practice.
Note: Only measures that are specifically identified as excludable can be omitted, and only by physicians who attest to meeting the exclusion criteria summarized below. The Meaningful Use Matrix notes these exclusions.

Excludable Meaningful Use Measures

Core Set	Criteria for Exclusion
CPOE	Write < 100 Rx in reporting period
ePrescribing	Write < 100 Rx in reporting period
Record Vital Signs—Height, Weight, Blood Pressure	All 3 not relevant to scope of practice or no patients ≥ age 2
Smoking Status	No patients ≥ 13
Electronic Copy of Health Information	Receive no requests
Clinical Summaries	No office visits

 

Menu Set	Criteria for Exclusion
Drug Formulary Checks	Write < 100 Rx in reporting period
Lab Results in EHR	No lab tests w/results in specified format
Patient Reminders	No patients ≥ age 65 or ≤ age 5
Timely Electronic Access to Health Information	Doesn’t track required info (labs, problem list, meds, allergies)
Medication Reconciliation	Didn’t receive any patients from other care settings or providers
Summary of Care	Didn’t transfer or refer any patients to other care settings/providers
Immunization Registries	No immunizations or no registry to receive info
Syndromic Surveillance	Don’t collect reportable information or no public health agency to receive info

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