Objective 9 – Secure Messaging

Secure Messaging – Objective 9

About the Objective: Use secure electronic messaging to communicate with patients on relevant health information.

Measure:

For an EHR reporting period in 2016, for at least 1 patient seen by the EP during the EHR reporting period, a secure message was sent using the electronic messaging function of CEHRT to the patient (or the patient-authorized representative), or in response to a secure message sent by the patient (or the patient-authorized representative) during the EHR reporting period.

Exclusion:

Any EP who has no office visits during the EHR reporting period; or any EP who conducts 50% or more of his or her patient encounters in a county that does not have 50% or more of its housing units with 4Mbps broadband availability according to the latest information available from the FCC on the first day of the EHR reporting period.

Report Calculation:

Denominator: Distinct Patients who have a visit within the report Date range with the provider selected that isn’t a “Message” or “Form”

Numerator: Number of distinct patients in the Denominator that have been sent an electronic message by an authorized personnel, or in response to a secure message sent by the patient (or patient-authorized representitve).

ChartLogic Tip: You must have ChartLogic Patient portal enabled to be able to meet this objective.

Additional Information:

• Provider-initiated action and interactions with a patient-authorized representative, are acceptable for the measure and are included in the numerator.
• A patient-initiated message would only count toward the numerator if the provider responds to the patient.
• The action for the numerator must occur within the calendar year but may occur before, during, or after the EHR reporting period if that period is less than one full calendar year.

How to meet this Objective:

• An authorized representitive of the practice will need to login to the Patient Portal, and send a patient a message, or respond to a patient message sent to the practice to meet this objective.

CMS Information

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