The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released the applications for meaningful use hardship exemptions for 2015.
Physicians who qualify for a hardship exemption must apply by March 15; hospitals must apply by April 1 to avoid being penalized in 2017. Exemptions may be granted for those facing infrastructure-related problems, unforeseen circumstances, lack of face-to-face interactions, or lack of available certified electronic health record systems.
As part of the Patient Access and Medicare Protection Act, passed in December 2015, CMS will be able to process blocks of applications instead of on a case-by-case basis, as it was required to do prior to the new law.
Applications and instructions are available here .
