Connecting California for Better Health
Welcome to the State Level Registry (SLR) for the Medi-Cal Promoting Interoperability (PI) Program
The Medi-Cal PI Program is able to provide substantial financial incentives to health professionals and acute care hospitals to adopt, implement, upgrade and meaningfully use certified electronic health record technology. As of June 2020, the program has distributed $1.6 billion in federal funding to over 25,000 health professionals and 331 hospitals. The last year to begin the program was 2016, but previously enrolled professionals and hospitals may continue to receive incentive payments through 2021.
Important Program Changes due to the Coronavirus Pandemic
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Beginning immediately, DHCS will accept e-signatures on attestations in lieu of physically-signed signatures. It is the responsibility of each practice organization to have controls in place to help assure that their staff use electronic signatures appropriately. If an electronic signature is provided for the eligible professional, the eligible professional must have approved its use. Documentation of this approval must be available for audit purposes.
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DHCS realizes that the Coronavirus pandemic is an evolving crisis and will continue to adjust program policies as the need arises. We express our sincere appreciation for the vital work the healthcare community is doing throughout the State and the nation in this time of great need.
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Important Information
2021 Attestations
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Attestations for 2021 will open on April 1, 2021. The attestation deadline will be September 15, 2021.
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All providers will be able to use 90-day or longer reporting periods for both MU objectives and CQMs.
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Attestations for the 2021 program year will be available for Stage 3 only. The objectives and measures will not change in 2021.
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Providers do not have to use 2015 CEHRT for the entire year, but must use 2015 CEHRT for the entire MU period.
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2020 Attestations
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Attestations for 2020 opened on April 15, 2020. The attestation deadline is March 31, 2021.
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All providers will be able to use 90-day or longer reporting periods for both MU objectives and CQMs.
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Attestations for the 2020 program year will be available for Stage 3 only.
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Providers do not have to use 2015 CEHRT for the entire year, but must use 2015 CEHRT for the entire MU reporting period.
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The 2020 Clinic Prequalification List is now available and replaces the Interim 2020 Clinic Prequalification List. Please note that due to the COVID pandemic, we understand that many clinics have been delayed in reporting their data to the Office of Statewide Health Planning (OSHPD).
In addition, OSHPD has not been able to provide full validation of the data used to prequalify clinics. As a result of both of these factors, we plan on requesting an updated data set from OSHPD in October 2020 to use for clinic prequalification. If your clinic has not reported to OSHPD yet and wants to be prequalified,
please submit your clinic’s data to OSHPD before October 2020. If your clinic is not on the list you can submit your clinic’s encounter data in the State Level Registry in order to qualify for 2020. As usual, if your clinic is on the list but its NPI is not listed,
or if you want to form a prequalified supergroup, please email us at ClinicPrequal@dhcs.ca.gov with the NPI and associated OSHPD Facility ID numbers.
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The 2020 prequalification list for professionals is available to be accessed.
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CQMs and Telehealth
MU Documentation Requirements
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Beginning in the 2019 Program Year, DHCS requires that documentation supporting
meaningful use (MU) attestations be uploaded into the State Level Registry (SLR)
before a MU attestation can be reviewed and approved. This documentation should
include a copy of the MU dashboard report including data for both objectives and CQMs produced by the electronic health record
or an equivalent data source. The documentation should also include a copy of the
Security Risk Analysis (SRA) or a signed letter describing the SRA. Click
here for further information about the SRA documentation.
Any upload button in the SLR can be used for this purpose. Upload buttons can be
found at the bottom of every MU objective page.
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Alternatively, documentation for individual professionals in a group/clinic can
be uploaded into the group/clinic SLR account, as long as separate MU data is provided
for each professional. In the case of a group/clinic, the SRA documentation does
not have to be specific for each professional. Providers in a group/clinic should
speak with their group/clinic representative regarding uploading MU documentation
into the group/clinic SLR account.
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Internet Explorer Browser Problem
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Although the SLR will operate properly using Internet Explorer, the ONC CHPL website
will not. For this reason, it is recommended that attestation be submitted in SLR
using Edge, Chrome, Firefox or other more up to date browsers.
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SLR Helpdesk Phone Number and e-mail
Change
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On October 1, 2019 the phone number and email for the SLR Helpdesk were changed
to the following:
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• Phone (855) 649-7806
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• E-mail:
CASLRSupport@us.ibm.com
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Audits
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DHCS is required to conduct audits of hospitals and providers who receive EHR incentive
payments for AIU or MU. Hospitals and providers should retain documentation supporting
their attestations for at least seven years in case of an audit.
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Hospitals: DHCS began auditing hospital AIU incentive payments in September
2015. The EHR audits are scheduled in the same manner as the Medi-Cal cost report
audits. To the extent possible, the EHR audits will be combined with the cost report
audits to minimize disruption to the hospital’s operations and staff.
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Based on recent clarification and approval received from the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services (CMS), DHCS revises its EHR Incentive Program auditing standards
as described below. These changes will apply both retroactively and going forward.
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Administrative bed days are counted as acute inpatient bed days when calculating
the Medicaid Share.
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Psychiatric and rehabilitation bed days and discharges with care occurring in beds
that would be paid under IPPS for Medicare patients are counted as acute inpatient
bed days and discharges. Psychiatric and rehabilitation bed days and discharges
with care occurring in beds that would not be paid under IPPS for Medicare patients
are not counted as acute inpatient bed days or discharges.
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DHCS has also clarified its auditing standards for Nursery Bed Days as follows.
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Nursery bed days and discharges for sick children with care billed under codes 172-174
may be counted as acute inpatient bed days and discharges. In the past, only nursery
bed days billed under code 174 could be counted as acute inpatient bed days or discharges.
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Hospitals that have already been audited will, if appropriate, receive revised audit
statements reflecting these changes. Hospitals with pending appeals should consult
with their legal counsel regarding the relevance of these changes to their appeals.
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Professionals: DHCS recently began auditing the meaningful use attestations
of selected professionals.
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California Health Information Exchange On-Boarding Program (Cal-HOP)-
The California Health Information Exchange On-Boarding Program, to be launched in October 2020, will provide $50 million in assistance to health information exchange organizations to enroll provider organizations and hospitals in their services. The program will be available until September 30, 2021. More information is available on the Cal-HOP website
California Technical Assistance Program (CTAP)--In November, 2015 the California Technical Assistance Program was launched with $37.5 million in federal and state funds. The CTAP program is designed to deliver free services to assist an additional 7,500 professionals, with special emphasis on solo practitioners and specialists. The CTAP program will end on September 30, 2020.
Important Web Resources (all links open in new window)
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Accessibility
DHCS has made every effort to make this site accessible to people with disabilities. In the event you experience difficulty accessing this site with assistive devices, please contact our Help Desk at (855) 649-7806 for assistance in obtaining the information you need.