To register for the Medicare/Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, follow these steps:

1.    Make a note of your National Provider Identifier (NPI), issued by the CMS; Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) issued by the IRS; and business address and phone number. This information is required

2.    Download the “Registration User Guide for Eligible Professionals” for instructions:
http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/Downloads/EHRMedicareEP_RegistrationUserGuide.pdf.

3.    Go to the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Registration and Attestation System: https://ehrincentives.cms.gov. Follow the instructions in the “Registration User Guide for Eligible Professionals document.

After registration, you can choose either the Medicare EHR Incentive Program or the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, subject to the eligibility requirements. Currently, only optometrists in optometrists in Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, and Viginia, and ophthalmologists nationwide are eligible for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.

If you completed the 90-day attestation period in 2011, you must continue to perform meaningful use measures throughout all of 2012 to qualify for the 2012 incentive payment.

If you are starting in 2012, the last day to begin the attestation period is October 3, 2012. If you begin your meaningful use measures in 2012, you still qualify for your full incentive potential. After 2012, your incentive potential diminishes each year.

For more information about the registration and attestation process, go to the Registration and Attestation EHR Incentives Programs page on the CMS Web site: http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/20_RegistrationandAttestation.asp.