In the News
Eligible Provider "Meaningful Use" Criteria
December 30, 2009 - Jack Beaudoin, VP, Content, Healthcare IT News
WASHINGTON - On Dec. 30, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that outlines provisions governing the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs, including a proposed definition for the central concept of "meaningful use" of EHR technology. In order for professionals and hospitals to be eligible to receive payments under the incentive programs, provided through the Recovery Act, they must be able to demonstrate meaningful use of a certified EHR system.
The following list of 25 Stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria for eligible providers was taken from the proposed rule: "Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Electronic Health Record Incentive Program."
Click here to read the list and the rest of the article
Click here to read the list of criteria for Eligible Hospitals
Achieving Meaningful Use
January 4, 2010 - John Halamka, MD, CIO, CareGroup Health System, Harvard Medical School, Healthcare IT News
Now that the Interim Final Rule (Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology) and the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Medicare and Medicaid Programs Electronic Health Record Incentive Program) have been published, we can all finalize our policy and technology strategies for achieving Certification and Meaningful Use in our organizations and communities.
It's important to use these two documents together to understand what is required for Certification and to achieve Meaningful Use stage 1 measures (2011) by professionals and hospitals.
Certification is a guarantee of software capabilities and Meaningful Use describes the way software features should be implemented in actual workflows. Certification and Meaningful Use are related but different concepts. For example, Certification requires that a complete EHR or EHR module have the capability of recording, retrieving, and transmitting immunization information using HL7 2.3.1 or HL7 2.5.1 with the CVX vocabulary. The Meaningful Use stage 1 measure is to perform at least one test of the certified EHR technology's capacity to submit electronic data to immunization registries if local public health agencies are capable of receiving them. Thus, for 2011, actual submission of immunization data is not required, just the capability and a single test of the capability. Of course, by Stage 2 (2013), I expect that actual data submission will be part of every patient immunization.
How should you prepare for Meaningful Use in your organization?
"Meaningful Use" Criteria Released
Decemeber 30, 2009 - David Burda, Editor of Modern Healthcare
HHS issued two sets of much-anticipated federal regulations that significantly further the government's healthcare information technology adoption agenda. The first set of regulations lists the "meaningful use" criteria that healthcare providers must meet to qualify for federal IT subsidies based on how they use their electronic health records. The second set of regulations lays out the standards and certification criteria that those EHRs must meet for their users to collect the money.
Between $14.1 billion and $27.3 billion is at stake, which was made available under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The meaningful use regulations are proposed regulations subject to a 60-day public comment period after which HHS would issue final regulations. The EHR certification regulations are interim final regulations that take effect in 30 days with a 60-day public comment period. HHS said final regulations will be published in 2010.
Under the proposed meaningful use regulations, eligible healthcare providers must use their EHRs to: improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare services; reduce healthcare disparities; engage patients and their families; improve the coordination of care; improve population and public health; and ensure the privacy and security of personal medical information.
Under the interim final EHR regulations, EHRs must be able to securely exchange information among providers and between providers and patients using standardized data elements and technologies. the regulations outline standardized formats for such things as clinical summaries; medical descriptions of clinical conditions and test results; and how that information is exchanged over the Internet.