Still time to apply for meaningful use hardship exception

Physicians have until March 15 to apply for a hardship exception to the 2015 reporting requirements for Medicare's electronic health record incentive program, or meaningful use.

Thanks to a new law enacted at the end of 2015, CMS issued a streamlined hardship exception application process for physicians and other eligible professionals who will not be able to meet meaningful use requirements due to the lateness of the meaningful use final rule. Physicians can apply for a hardship exception that lets them avoid a potential payment penalty in 2017.

Hardship criteria, applications, and instructions can be found on the CMS website.

Additional information about the meaningful use program can be found on the Running a Practice section of ACP's website.