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3 Tips to Mastering MIPS Secure Messaging

3 Tips to Mastering MIPS Secure Messaging

The secure messaging measure is a fairly new measure in the EHR Incentive Payment program and is the measure that seems to give clinicians the most trouble throughout the reporting year. Secure messaging is not required for the MIPS base score in 2018 but it is a measure that gives clinicians bonus points. Basically, if the clinician is falling behind on another measure, you can use the bonus points to improve your overall score. So, let’s talk about how to master (or at least survive) this measure.

  1. Prescription Refills Requests – Some practices have implemented policy that states all prescription refill requests must be placed through a secure message via the patient portal. This takes pressure off the front desk staff with phones as well as documents when the patient requested the refill for charting purposes.
  2. Clinical Questions – Often patients call the office asking clinical questions for the provider. Rarely does the provider have time to jump on the phone in the middle of clinic to answer a question. So, questions are taken from the front desk staff and given to the provider. This leaves room for miscommunication or lost communication all together. Instructing patients to use the secure messaging feature in the patient portal will send messages directly to the provider to handle at downtime during clinic.
  3. Respond to Phone Messages – Patients are having a hard time transitioning to communication via secure messaging with providers. A good way to get them use to this is to say all physician responses will be sent via a secure message to the patient portal. This will force the patients to log in to the portal and view messages there so in the future they will send clinical questions via secure message to begin with.

Now most EHR’s have a smartphone App to make secure messaging communication easier for patients. These vendors normally provide marketing material to hang in the office as well to help inform and encourage patients to download apps that are available to them.

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About the Author:

Taylor is the Meaningful Use Specialist at eMedApps and has been working with Meaningful Use since 2013. She graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a bachelor’s of science in Health Systems Management where she was introduced to the different areas of health care. She found her passion to be in patient satisfaction and began her journey in Meaningful Use to assure patients are getting the best quality of care possible.