Great news--you have another week to report an e-prescribing (e-Rx) hardship exemption if you failed to submit at least 10 e-prescriptions by the June 30, 2011 deadline, Part B News has learned.
Reporting a hardship exemption could get you out of the 1% payment penalty set to hit Jan. 1, 2012, if it’s approved by CMS. Remember: You report an exemption via CMS’s website at www.qualitynet.org/portal/server.pt/community/communications_support_system/234.
TIP: Valid exemptions range from being in an area with no broadband Internet to being tied up with electronic health record (EHR) adoption, to being a provider who doesn’t prescribe much or has legal prohibitions (often the case for narcotic drugs). It’s not a lot of extra time, but CMS decided to grant the extension due to bugs with the website that were recently fixed (PBN 10/10/11).