In both Stage 1 and Stage 2 Meaningful Use, regardless of what stage of meaningful use the provider is attesting to, medical assistants are required to be credentialed. What is important, as we discussed in previous articles, is that the medical assistant credentialing "must come from an organization other than the organization employing the medical assistant."
The proposed Stage 3 Meaningful Use rule continues to emphasize that orders should be entered by a licensed healthcare professional or "credentialed medical assistant" and that the medical assistant credentialing must come from an organization other than the employer:
"In Stage 3, we propose to continue the policy from the Stage 2 final rule at 77 CFR 53986 that orders entered by any licensed healthcare professional or credentialed medical assistant would count toward this objective. A credentialed medical assistant may enter orders if they are credentialed to perform the duties of a medical assistant by a credentialing body other than the employer."
The proposed rule provides some additional clarification and guidance for employers:
"We further note that medical staff whose organizational or job title, or the title of their credential, is other than medical assistant may enter orders if these staff are credentialed to perform the equivalent duties of a credentialed medical assistant by a credentialing body other than their employer and perform such duties as part of their organizational or job title. We defer to the provider's discretion to determine the appropriateness of the credentialing of staff to ensure that any staff entering orders have the clinical training and knowledge required to enter orders for CPOE."
How we can help
Healthcare Compliance Pros offers a Medical Assistant Credentialing module that meets the CMS requirements for Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 Meaningful Use. If you haven't already, you can easily add this course to your account and train all necessary medical assistants, or other medical staff, with very minimal disruption to your workforce.
If you would like more information about our Medical Assistant Credentialing module, please do not hesitate to contact us by leaving a comment below; or send us an email at support@hcp.md; or reach us by phone toll-free at 855-427-0427. We are eager to help you get your medical assistants credentialed as soon as possible.