On Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the Federal Register a final rule on meaningful use as part of an effort to expand the use of electronic health records (EHR). Most important for physicians is what the regulation says about what clinicians must do with EHRs to be considered meaningful users in 2011 and 2012. Before issuing the final rule, CMS made revisions based on more than 2,000 comments that were submitted by various organizations. In the final rule, CMS offers a set of core objectives that create a starting point for meaningful use of EHRs and a separate menu of additional activities from which providers can choose.
Click here to hear Implementing Meaningful Use in EHR, a webinar presented by the NCMS Foundation and NC Medical Group Managers on July 13, 2010.
View the July 13 news conference, when Health and Human Services announced the final rule on meaningful use.
Read the full text of the CMS Electronic Health Record Incentive Program Final Rule.
Read the Final Rule for Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology.
A CMS/ONC (National Coordinator for Health Information Technology) fact sheet on the rules is available at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/.
Technical fact sheets on CMS’s final rule are available at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/.
A technical fact sheet on ONC’s standards and certification criteria final rule is available at http://healthit.hhs.gov/standardsandcertification.
