E-Prescribing: What You Need to Know
For the first time, practitioners who did not e-prescribe at least 10 times between Jan. 1 and June 30,
2011 or who did not meet the requirements and/or request a hardship exemption by Nov. 8, 2011
will be penalized with a one percent payment reduction on all of their 2012 Medicare payments.
Practitioners who e-prescribed at least 25 times during 2011 or who e-prescribe at least 10 times
between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2012 can avoid the 2013 penalty. More information is posted in the
CardioSource.org/healthIT section to help understand how to avoid the penalty, as well as how to
successfully participate to collect the bonus.

Last Chance to Participate in PQRS Before Penalties Begin
Since 2007, successful participants in the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) have received
a bonus payment of as much as 2 percent of Medicare allowed charges. Beginning this year through
2014, qualifying participants will receive a bonus payment of 0.5 percent. However, while there may
be some provisions for physicians who do not have appropriate measures to report, the vast majority
of cardiologists will likely be subject to a penalty starting in 2015. Also, the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) will assess the penalty similar to the e-prescribing penalty, meaning penalties
will be based on participation prior to the year in question. For example, physicians who do not
participate in PQRS in 2013 will be subject to the 2015 penalty. To help members understand the PQRS
participation requirements, and learn more about the ACC tools available, the first PINNACLE Network
webinar of 2012 focused entirely on PQRS. Got to http://www.cardiosource.org/webinars for the Jan. 26
archive of the PINNACLE Network PQRS webinar.

Last Year for Maximum Payment Under the EHR Incentive Program
This year marks the last year for physicians interested in participating in the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program to receive the maximum payment. Physicians can earn up to $44,000
over five years if they meet the program requirements and begin participating in 2011 or 2012. First-
year participants must only comply with the program’s requirements for 90 days. This means that
participants in their first year have until Oct. 1 to comply. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) recently released a guide for beginners to the EHR Incentive Program and has produced
measure specification sheets for all of the core and optional requirements, available at http://www.cms.gov/ehrincentiveprograms.
The ACC has also partnered with the Managed Care Advisory Group (MCAG) to
help members receive maximum incentive payments under the EHR Incentive Program. MCAG uses a
dashboard to track physician progress in meeting the Meaningful Use requirements and help identify
problem areas. Once requirements are met, MCAG will complete and send the application for the
incentive bonus to CMS. More information on the EHR Incentive Program, ACC resources and MCAG, is available at CardioSource.org/HealthIT.