Welcome to the S.C. Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program Website

***Announcement***: We are now in the EHR reporting period for Program Year 2019. Providers need to discuss and plan to meet the (Stage 3 Requirements) during a minimum continuous 90-day period between Jan. 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2019. Stage 2 is no longer available!

Do you have a question or need help? Give us a call at 803-898-2996 or hitsc@scdhhs.gov. Our goal is to help you meet the requirements.

NOTICE: The Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program has been renamed the “Medicaid Promoting Interoperability (PI) Program”. Although the name has changed, the PI Program continues the requirements, attestation and incentive payment process of the “EHR Incentive Program” and is administered by the SCDHHS HIT Division. 

Eligible Providers (EPs) participating in Medicare PI Programs (such as MIPS) may restart or continue their participation with the separate S.C. Medicaid PI Program. Providers may participate in and receive money from BOTH programs! Review this link to see program similarities -  Medicaid EHR incentives will end after 2021, but there is still time to take advantage of this opportunity to be rewarded for your EHR usage! EPs or their authorized representatives must submit an attestation at https://slr.scdhhs.gov to take advantage of this opportunity. 

How much are the incentives? Can I receive incentives for multiple years? What if I haven't participated in a long time?

    Incentive amounts are $8,500 per each approved attestation; up to a maximum of six paid attestations (six program years) or a total of $63,750 per EP. EP participation does not have to be consecutive and EPs can participate again at any time if they were paid in the past (skipping program years is allowed). Pediatricians have the option of qualifying with 19.5% Medicaid patient volume for an incentive amount of $5,667.

How do I determine if I, or other providers are eligible to participate in the Medicaid PI Program and receive incentive payments?

    Don't miss out! To be sure, please send your NPI or a list of your organization's provider NPIs to HITSC@scdhhs.gov or call us at 803-898-2996. It is unlikely that EPs know their eligibility or participation history from previous employers, or may mistakenly believe they are not eligible - Click here to read more.

What are the Meaningful Use (MU) requirements for Program Year (PY) 2019? Did EPs need to perform these actions the entire year?

    ALL EPs are now required to meet Stage 3 measures during an EP selected continuous minimum 90-day period occurring between Jan. 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2019. EPs do not have to perform these actions the entire year, nor perform these actions for every patient.

What if I upgraded from 2014 edition (or older) CEHRT to 2015 edition CEHRT, or changed vendors in 2019?

    An EP does not need to have 2015 Edition CEHRT by the beginning of the calendar year (or the CQM reporting period). The data that Medicaid EPs are required to report for CQMs is a snapshot based on the data within the CEHRT, taken at the time of attestation and for the EP's self-selected minimum continuous 90-day EHR reporting period. Medicaid EPs are responsible for reporting exactly the data that their CEHRT produces and can combine data from different CEHRT systems if applicable to perform manual calculations. Auditable documentation of data and calculations must be kept for a minimum of six years and must be provided to SCDHHS upon request.

    Important: To meet Stage 3 requirements, the EP/ EH must have used certified EHR technology (CEHRT) during their 90-day reporting period that is certified to the 2015 edition, or to a combination of the 2015 Edition and 2014 Edition as long as the combination would not prohibit the EP from meeting Stage 3 requirements. EPs do not need to have CEHRT which meets these requirements for the entire 2019 calendar year. Contact us if you have questions.

Can users submit attestations on behalf of providers in their organizations/ practices?

    Yes. They must establish an Identity and Access (I&A) Management Account first.  If you are working on behalf of an EP(s) and do not have an I&A web user account, Create a Login here in the I&A System. Once you acquire an I&A account, you will use your CMS Registration ID (forgot your ID? Contact CMS at 1(866) 484-8049 and state you need "access to your EHR account") to login to the SC SLR and attest.

• See Frequently Asked Questions about I&A Access
• See I&A Quick Reference Guide

What if an EP has a previous attestation that was not paid or was hospital-based in a previous year?

• Unpaid attestations: Some EPs may have unpaid attestations in the SLR. Having an unpaid attestation does not make an EP ineligible to participate in the program or for another program year. There is no requirement to resolve any outstanding issues with previously submitted attestations in order to participate in another program year. The EP or their authorized designee should simply select the available program year (2019) and begin a new attestation.
• Hospital-based status:  Read this important update!

What if EPs see patients at locations without Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT)?

    For information regarding EPs who practice at multiple locations, please refer to this link.

SCDHEC's Immunization Registry has not declared readiness to accept submissions in the manner required by Stage 3. Can EPs exclude the immunization reporting requirement?

    Yes. SCDHEC will not be able to declare readiness to accept submission during calendar year 2019. Therefore, SCDHHS has determined that ALL EPs who attest to upcoming Program Year 2019 will not need to meet this measure and automatically qualify for the exclusion for Objective 8, Measure 1 (immunization registry reporting). The following exclusion needs to be selected in the attestation:

"Any EP who operates in a jurisdiction where no immunization registry or immunization information system has declared readiness to receive immunization data as of 6 months prior to the start of the EHR reporting period."

EPs do not need to get any information or communication (letter, email, etc.) from SCDHEC in order to claim the exclusion.  EPs will not need to obtain or retain any auditable documentation for this exclusion.