To qualify for incentive payments, meaningful use requirements must be met in the following ways:
•Medicare EHR Incentive Program—Eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must successfully demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record technology every year they participate in the program.
•Medicaid EHR Incentive Program—Eligible professionals and eligible hospitals may qualify for incentive payments if they adopt, implement, upgrade or demonstrate meaningful use in their first year of participation. They must successfully demonstrate meaningful use for subsequent participation years.
•Adopted: Acquired and installed certified EHR technology. (For example, can show evidence of installation.)
•Implemented: Began using certified EHR technology. (For example, provide staff training or data entry of patient demographic information into EHR.)
•Upgraded: Expanded existing technology to meet certification requirements. (For example, upgrade to certified EHR technology or add new functionality to meet the definition of certified EHR technology.)
