Welcome to the Montana State Level Registry (SLR) — Provider Outreach Page
Montana providers must register with the CMS registration and attestation system, formerly known as NLR, prior to registering with the Montana State Level Registry. The tools in this Provider Outreach Page will help you start collecting and organizing the information you will need in order to register with Montana's SLR.
As the healthcare landscape continues to modernize, recent legislation was passed to encourage the adoption of Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) technology in documenting patient care. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, beginning in 2011, eligible Medicaid providers are offered financial incentives for the implementation and meaningful use of Health Information Technology (HIT) in the management of patient populations.
To streamline the process in applying for the incentive and provide supportive resources throughout your HIT transition, this web portal centralizes the national, state and regional links for additional program information. It also serves as the portal to access the Montana State Level Registry (SLR). In support of The State of Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services vision to improve access to health care and quality of health care for Montanans, this site also offers the following:
- A centralized “one-stop” launching pad of available tools for managing your EHR Incentive Program information
- A secure portal to access the MT State Level Registry (SLR)
- Organized information offering real-time feeds of current HIT news and updates from other federal organizations such as CMS.
Educate yourself today on the benefits of HIT and be a part of transforming the quality, efficiency and safety of healthcare delivery.
Name Change ALERT
CMS has renamed the EHR Incentive Program to the Promoting Interoperability (PI) Program!
What to Expect for Program Year 2019?
- Eligible Professionals can continue through 2021 if they have previously attested at least once in any program year prior to and including 2016.
- Eligible Hospitals that have attested and received payment for Program Year 2018 can continue with subsequent payments.
- All participants must attest to Meaningful Use Stage 3 - no attestations will be accepted for AIU (Adopt, Implement or Upgrade).
- Beginning with program year 2019, EPs must use 2015 Edition certified EHR technology. The 2015 Edition functionality must be in place by the first day of the EHR reporting period and the product must be certified to the 2015 Edition criteria by the last day of the EHR reporting period. The EP must be using the 2015 Edition functionality for the full EHR reporting period. In many situations the product may be deployed but pending certification. As long as the certification is received by the last day of the reporting period, the EP will be able to meet the Stage 3 objectives and measures.
- EHR reporting period for Medicaid EPs and EHs is a minimum of any continuous 90-day period.
- Medicaid EPs who are returning participants must report on a one-year eCQM reporting period, and first-time meaningful users must report on a 90-day eCQM reporting period.
- EPs are required to report on at least one outcome measure. If no outcome measures are relevant to that EP, they must report on at least one high-priority measure. If there are no outcome or high priority measures relevant to an EP’s scope of practice, they must report on any six relevant measures.
- Unlike in previous years, there are no alternate exclusions or specifications available.
- Security Risk Assessment must be conducted by both EHs and EPs during Calendar Year 2019.
- Broadband Access Exclusion: CMS offers broadband access exclusions for three meaningful use objectives; Patient Electronic Access to Health Information, Coordination of Care through Patient Engagement, and Health Information Exchange. According to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) most current map, all counties in Montana are listed as having 50 percent or more of its housing units with 4Mbps broadband available. Therefore, no providers are eligible to take the broadband exclusion for either of these objectives.
- The following documentation must be uploaded to the Montana State Level Registry (SLR) for EP Program Year 2019:
- Copy of Contract with EHR Vendor (if contract is not current upload a current invoice)
- Copy of Security Risk Assessment
- Full Meaningful Use Summary Report (All MU objectives/measures and all CQMs) or Supporting Documentation (screen shots or EHR report with PHI removed)
- Letter from the Public Health Agency (or statement/reason for exclusion- “We don’t give immunization due to provider type. We are Dentists.”)
- Signed and Dated Program Year 2019 Attestation
CMS Clarification for Objective 5 Measure 1 API
CMS has clarified the language in the Stage 3 regulation and 2019 specification sheet for Objective 5, Measure 1; and are allowing flexibility on the requirement to meet this measure for Program Year 2019 in accordance with their original intention.
Measure 1: For more than 80 percent of all unique patients seen by the EP:
(1) The patient (or the patient-authorized representative) is provided timely access to view online, download, and transmit his or her health information; and
(2) The provider ensures the patient’s health information is available for the patient (or patient-authorized representative) to access using any application of their choice that is configured to meet the technical specifications of the Application Programming Interface (API) in the provider’s certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT).
CMS has acknowledged that their use of the word “timely” was unclear and applied to the availability of data through an API in (2), as well as the VDT in (1). Their intent is that EPs must make a patient’s health data available and must offer all four functionalities (view, download, transmit, and access through API) within 48 hours of the information being available to the EP.
CMS is allowing states to give EPs flexibility on meeting the second part of this measure for 2019 only. EPs will be able to meet this measure if they (1) have enabled an API during the calendar year of the reporting period, (2) make data available via that API for 80% of the patients seen during their reporting period, (3) provide those patients with detailed instructions on how to authenticate their access through the API and provide the patient with supplemental information on available applications that leverage the API, and (4) maintain availability of the API, i.e., it can’t be turned on for one day and then disabled.
Important Web Resources (all links open in new window)
© 2010–2017 Conduent. All rights reserved.