Under current law, a physician or other professional may be subject to payment reductions for services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries if the provider fails to achieve “meaningful use” of electronic health record (EHR) technology. The meaningful use standard requires that at least half of the provider’s patient encounters occur in a setting that uses certified EHR technology. S. 1347 would temporarily exclude services furnished in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC) from being included in the count of patient encounters for the purpose of determining whether a provider achieves meaningful use of EHR technology.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1347 would increase direct spending by $15 million over the fiscal year 2016-2025 period. Pay-as-you-go procedures apply because enacting the legislation would affect direct spending. The legislation would not affect revenues.
S. 1347 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
