Medicare Professional Stage 1 Meaningful Use Attestation

There are 392,800 providers eligible for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. As of May 2014, approximately 67% had attested to meaningful use of a certified EHR through Medicare. Half of the Medicare-eligible providers attested in 2011 or 2012, and the vast majority (85%) returned in year 2. The rate of skipping year 2 is similar for providers that started in both 2011 and 2012 (15-16%).

The Public Use File used for this analysis only includes Medicare attestations and, therefore, does not capture instances where a health care professional switched from the Medicare program to the Medicaid program. Up to an estimated 1% of providers may be noted as “skipping” a year when in fact they switched from Medicare to Medicaid. Providers may also skip a year because they are no longer eligible for the program due to retirement, departure from active or ambulatory care practice, or other reasons.

Two-thirds of all Medicare-eligible providers had attested to meaningful use of a certified EHR by 2013