The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is extending the deadline for eligible professionals to attest to meaningful use for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program 2013.

"This extension will allow more time for providers to submit their meaningful use data and receive an incentive payment for the 2013 program year, as well as avoid the 2015 payment adjustment."

"We are seeing extraordinary interest from healthcare providers participating in the Electronic Heath Records Incentive Programs, and to help ensure all eligible healthcare providers are able to receive their incentive payments, we are extending the attestation deadline for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program by one month for professionals,"

"Additionally, hospitals that may have missed their reporting deadline have an opportunity to submit their attestation retroactively.”

The deadline was extended from 11:59 p.m. EST on Feb. 28, 2014 to 11:59 p.m. on March 31, 2014.

CMS is also offering assistance to eligible hospitals that may have difficulty attesting to submit their attestation retroactively and avoid the 2015 payment penalty.

"This extension does not impact the deadlines for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program or any other CMS program, including the electronic submission for the Physician Quality Reporting System EHR Incentive Program Pilot,"