As the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) approaches, several important Stage 1 and Stage 2 decision points remain unresolved. In a recent ModernHealthcare.com posting on their Healthcare Business News, Joe Conn posed the caption above as a question for providers – to wait or not to wait?

FFY11 is all but done, and FFY12 opens October 1st. Hospitals that began counting their 90 days before July 3rd can attest now, or up to 60 days after the close of FFY11. Eligible professionals (EPs) have until October 3rd to begin their 90-day count before filing by Calendar Year (CY) end, with up to a 60-day period to file thereafter. So, this will mark the end of Stage 1, right?

Well, not so fast. The Stage 2 timing is still up in the air with the HIT Policy Committee’s suggestion to “delay” Stage 2 for up to one year. Their reasoning is to allow providers, hospitals and vendors to better plan and implement the Stage 2 recommendations — not expected to be finalized until summer 2012. While the ONC Chair has said things like, “We agree with the logic” [to delay], the final decision rests with CMS. In a recent webinar, CMS was said to be “very vocal” that the timetable will remain unchanged.

With that, hospitals and providers have been paid hundreds of millions of dollars under both Medicare and Medicaid, and despite the fact that many auditors have yet to decide how to recognize the revenue and/or apply cost accounting for the IT specific depreciation line item, hospitals and providers continue to advance patient safety and quality care reporting under this Meaningful Use legislation.