CMS providing Meaningful Use exemption for slow Internet

Physicians working to comply with stage 2 of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Meaningful Use program know that not all of the requirements are under their control.

Specifically, more than 5 percent of patients must send a secure message to their physician that is received using the electronic messaging function of the electronic health record (EHR), and more than 5 percent must view, download, or transmit their health information to a third party.

But both of those require the patient having access to broadband Internet service.

Enough physicians in Internet-poor locales have asked CMS how they can be required to meet those guidelines that the agency has finalized an exemption.

Under the rule, an eligible professional will not have to meet either of the above Meaningful Use measures if at least 50 percent of his or her patient encounters are in a county where more than 50 percent of the housing units lack access to broadband download speeds of at least 3 megabits per second (Mbps), as measured by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the first day of the EHR reporting period.

Physicians can check the broadband download speed in their county through the FCC's National Broadband Map. Click "Analyze the data" and then "Rank your geography." Under step one, pick "Rank within a State," click "County," and then select your state. Under step two, click "Speed" (which defaults to a download speed of > 3Mbps). On the next screen select "Manage metrics" and then click "% housing units." As an example, here's the breakdown for FPM's home state of Kansas.

It must be noted, however, that the FCC map is based on advertised broadband speeds not typical ones, so the vast majority of counties in the United States are considered to have access to broadband speeds of 3 Mbps or more.

That means unless you practice in some truly remote areas of the country, slow broadband may not be an adequate defense against Meaningful Use stage 2.