CMS issues final rules on Meaningful Use
On July 13, 2010, CMS issued the final rule defining "meaningful use" and establishing the parameters and requirements for eligible professionals, hospitals and other providers to receive incentive payments provided under the HITECH Act for widespread adoption of electronic health records. According to CMS, the key changes included in the final rule (from the meaningful use NPRM published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2010) include:
- Greater flexibility with respect to eligible professionals and hospitals in meeting and reporting certain objectives for demonstrating meaningful use. The final rule divides the objectives into a “core” group of required objectives and a “menu set” of procedures from which providers may choose any five to defer in 2011-2012. This gives providers latitude to pick their own path toward full EHR implementation and meaningful use.
- An objective of providing condition-specific patient education resources for both EPs and eligible hospitals and the objective of recording advance directives for eligible hospitals, in line with recommendations from the Health Information Technology Policy Committee.
- A definition of a hospital-based EP as one who performs substantially all of his or her services in an inpatient hospital setting or emergency room only, which conforms to the Continuing Extension Act of 2010
- CAHs within the definition of acute care hospital for the purpose of incentive program eligibility under Medicaid.
You can view the PDF of the final rule on Meaningful Use by clicking here.
You can learn more about it from the HHS press release by clicking here. Also, the New England Journal of Medicine published an excellent summary by Dr. Blumenthal of the changes included in the final rule; you can find this article by clicking here.
At the same time, ONC issued another final rule, finalizing the "standards and certification criteria for the certification of EHR technology, so eligible professionals and hospitals may be assured that the systems they adopt are capable of performing the required functions." You can find a copy of this final rule by clicking here.
Stay tuned for much more analysis of the final rules published today, as well as the changes to HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules issued by OCR last week.
Last Thursday, March 18, 2010, from 1:00PM to 2:00PM (EDT), Post & Schell hosted the second webinar in a series examining the effects of meaningful use and other HITECH Act regulations on the healthcare industry. 
ONC announced release of the much-anticipated Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on certification programs. Via ONC .gif){kind=logo}
CMS released a proposed rule pursuant to the HITECH Act which includes the much-anticipated definition of Meaningful Use of Certified EHR technology. You can find the full text 
On the eve of HHS releasing the much-anticipated definition of "meaningful use," health IT divisions of GE and Siemens revealed new financing options for purchases of their EMR and other HIT products.
ancing solutions to help healthcare providers pursue meaningful use objectives and meet [HITECH Act] deadlines <...> Featuring zero-percent interest terms for qualified customers, the solutions enable organizations to defer up-front payments associated with their technology investment while meeting criteria for future government incentive monies.".gif){kind=logo}
The Office of National Coordinator for Health IT named 17 members of the newly formed privacy and security workgroup of the HIT Policy Committee. According to 
Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health IT, gave an 