Answering pressure to provide more details about hardship exception from Stage 2 meaningful-use requirements, the CMS issued guidance that gives hospitals and eligible professionals more time if their EHR vendor is to blame for their failure to meet the deadline.
Until now, CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner said only that Stage 2 compliance dates under the federal electronic health record incentive payment program would not be pushed back and that hardship exception applications would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Few details about the requirements, deadlines and process for winning an exception had emerged, prompting six Republican senators—Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.)—to prod Tavenner for clarification.