MACRA and Meaningful Use. MIPS and Advancing Care Information. You've probably heard these phrases quite a bit over the past week - and for good reason. With the announcement that under the newly proposed MACRA rule, Meaningful Use would end on Jan. 1, 2017, has been a big story in the healthcare industry. The proposed rule would end Meaningful Use, and instead, create Advancing Care Information, a program that would be incorporated into the Merit-based Payment System (MIPS). As of now, these changes would only affect eligible providers and not hospitals. So as an eligible provider, what exactly do you need to know about all of these proposed changes?

Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a major change was coming to the healthcare IT industry - the MACRA proposed rule would end Meaningful Use, as it's conducted today, on Jan. 1, 2017. Instead, Meaningful Use would be replaced by Advancing Care Information, which would be implemented into the Merit-based Payment System (MIPS). Those within the healthcare IT industry reacted quickly to the big news with responses ranging from hopeful to critical. RELATED: MACRA Proposed Rule Will Replace Meaningful Use for Eligible Providers

In January, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt announced that Meaningful Use "as it has existed would be effectively over and replaced with something better" in 2016. Now we know how. Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a proposed rule for Medicare Access and CHIP Authorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) integration. As a result, Meaningful Use reporting - as it's conducted today - would end as of Jan. 1, 2017.

CMS reimbursement cuts to ophthalmology have some industry experts predicting big changes to practice patterns, from fewer residents entering the specialty to fewer surgeons entering the operating room. To survive, specialists are going to need a game plan for increasing revenue.

The Physician Quality Reporting System is gaining momentum as we move forward into 2016. With new acronyms (MIPS, MACRA, PQRS, MU, VBM, etc.) making an appearance on what feels like a monthly basis, it’s important to know where the program is headed and what your game plan will be for avoiding penalties.

Settled into ICD-10 yet? The infamous transition to the new coding system last October was met with a significant amount of controversy, but now almost six months out, it appears it wasn't as rocky as many believed, despite the 155,000 total ICD-10 codes.

In an effort to provide relief for both eligible medical professionals and eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has once again extended the deadline to file for a hardship exception for Meaningful Use. The deadline now sits at July 1, 2016. This is the second time in the last month that CMS has opted to push back the hardship exception deadline. Originally, the deadline was March 15 for eligible professionals.