We’ve seen continuous challenges across the industry to produce valid C-CDAs to send to patients. Good news – it might not be as difficult as you thought to send both inpatient and ambulatory summaries to patients.
On August 26, CMS helped to clarify any misunderstanding and confusion by publishing an FAQ stating that the same summary can be used to meet both the Summary of Care and View, Download, and Transmit objectives of meaningful use as long as the required fields are provided.
Take a look at the chart below to see what you need:
We’ve advised our clients to take this approach and it’s worked! We suggest using the same C-CDA that the EHR produces to meet the Summary of Care objective and add the required VDT data elements.
Below is the CMS FAQ:
Q. [EHR Incentive Programs] In the inpatient setting, when providing patient data to satisfy the Summary of Care and View Online, Download, and Transmit objectives, does a hospital have to provide two different documents for patients and providers?
A. Eligible hospitals may create one consolidated document for the download requirement of the View Online, Download, and Transmit objective and the Summary of Care objective, as long as it:
- Has the required fields in it for both objectives
- Meets the standards for structured data for both objectives
View the FAQ on CMS’ website here.