EP Defined Terms

Defined Terms for Eligible Professionals for EHR Incentive Program

These terms are used and defined by CMS in all of the Meaningful Use Objectives for Eligible Professionals.

Active Medication List – A list of medications that a given patient is currently taking.

Active Medication Allergy List – A list of medications to which a given patient has known allergies.

Allergy – An exaggerated immune response or reaction to substances that are generally not harmful.

Business Days – Business days are defined as Monday through Friday excluding federal or state holidays on which the EP or their respective administrative staffs are unavailable.

Clinical Summary – An after-visit summary that provides a patient with relevant and actionable information and instructions containing the patient name, provider’s office contact information, date and location of visit, an updated medication list, updated vitals, reason(s) for visit, procedures and other instructions based on clinical discussions that took place during the office visit, any updates to a problem list, immunizations or medications administered during visit, summary of topics covered/considered during visit, time and location of next appointment/testing if scheduled, or a recommended appointment time if not scheduled, list of other appointments and tests that the patient needs to schedule with contact information, recommended patient decision aids, laboratory and other diagnostic test orders, test/laboratory results (if received before 24 hours after visit), and symptoms.

Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) – CPOE entails the provider’s use of computer assistance to directly enter medication orders from a computer or mobile device. The order is also documented or captured in a digital, structured, and computable format for use in improving safety and organization.

Diagnostic Test Results – All data needed to diagnose and treat disease. Examples include, but are not limited to, blood tests, microbiology, urinalysis, pathology tests, radiology, cardiac imaging, nuclear medicine tests, and pulmonary function tests.

Different Legal Entities – A separate legal entity is an entity that has its own separate legal existence. Indications that two entities are legally separate would include (1) they are each separately incorporated; (2) they have separate Boards of Directors; and (3) neither entity is owned or controlled by the other.

Distinct Certified EHR Technology – Each instance of certified EHR technology must be able to be certified and operate independently from all the others in order to be distinct. Separate instances of certified EHR technology that must link to a common database in order to gain certification would not be considered distinct. However, instances of certified EHR technology that link to a common, uncertified system or component would be considered distinct. Instances of certified EHR technology can be from the same vendor and still be considered distinct.

Exchange – Clinical information must be sent between different legal entities with distinct certified EHR technology and not between organizations that share a certified EHR technology. Distinct certified EHR technologies are those that can achieve certification and operate independently of other certified EHR technologies. The exchange of information requires that the eligible professional must use the standards of certified EHR technology as specified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, not the capabilities of uncertified or other vendor-specific alternative methods for exchanging clinical information.

Medication Reconciliation — The process of identifying the most accurate list of all medications that the patient is taking, including name, dosage, frequency, and route, by comparing the medical record to an external list of medications obtained from a patient, hospital, or other provider.

Office Visit – Office visits include separate, billable encounters that result from evaluation and management services provided to the patient and include: (1) Concurrent care or transfer of care visits, (2) Consultant visits, or (3) Prolonged Physician Service without Direct (Face-To-Face) Patient Contact (tele-health). A consultant visit occurs when a provider is asked to render an expert opinion/service for a specific condition or problem by a referring provider.

Patient Authorized Entities – Any individual or organization to which the patient has granted access to their clinical information. Examples would include an insurance company that covers the patient, an entity facilitating health information exchange among providers, or a personal health record vendor identified by the patient. A patient would have to affirmatively grant access to these entities.

Patient-Specific Education Resources – Resources identified through logic built into certified EHR technology which evaluates information about the patient and suggests education resources that would be of value to the patient.

Permissible Prescriptions – The concept of only permissible prescriptions refers to the current restrictions established by the Department of Justice on electronic prescribing for controlled substances in Schedule II-V. (The substances in Schedule II-V can be found here.) Any prescription not subject to these restrictions would be permissible.

Preferred Language – The language by which the patient prefers to communicate.

Prescription – The authorization by an EP to a pharmacist to dispense a drug that the pharmacist would not dispense to the patient without such authorization.

Public Health Agency – An entity under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, tribal organization, State level and/or city/county level administration that serves a public health function.

Relevant Encounter – An encounter during which the EP performs a medication reconciliation due to new medication or long gaps in time between patient encounters or for other reasons determined appropriate by the EP. Essentially an encounter is relevant if the EP judges it to be so. (Note: Relevant encounters are not included in the numerator and denominator of the measure for this objective.)

Transition of Care – The movement of a patient from one setting of care (hospital, ambulatory primary care practice, ambulatory specialty care practice, long-term care, home health, rehabilitation facility) to another.

Unique Patient – If a patient is seen by an EP more than once during the EHR reporting period, then for purposes of measurement that patient is only counted once in the denominator for the measure. All the measures relying on the term ‘‘unique patient’’ relate to what is contained in the patient’s medical record. Not all of this information will need to be updated or even be needed by the provider at every patient encounter. This is especially true for patients whose encounter frequency is such that they would see the same provider multiple times in the same EHR reporting period.