Hitech Incentive Payment Meaningful use Final Regualtions Issued

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued its Final Rule on “Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Electronic Health Record Incentive Program” on July 13, 2010. Better known as the “Meaningful Use” requirements, after the provision that eligible providers and hospitals must demonstrate that they are putting their certified Electronic Health Records to “meaningful use” before they can access Incentive Payments totaling $27 billion, the Final Rule spells out in great detail (864 pages) the criteria to meet the Meaningful Use standard. The Final Rule notes that registration and application for the Incentive Payment funds will not be available until January, 2011, but that eligible providers and hospitals must attest at that time (if they wish to access funds available for 2011), that they meet the Stage 1 Core Criteria (14 for Eligible Providers and 15 for Eligible Hospitals.

“Stage One focuses heavily on establishing the functionalities in certified EHR technology that will allow for continuous quality improvement and ease of information exchange,” the Final Rule states and, to that end, these Core Criteria comprise the ability to exchange key clinical information with other caregivers and patient-designated entities, and the ability to protect the information in the EHR. The capabilities required to meet these criteria are similar to those in a best-practices EHR information governance and management initiative: the ability to quickly identify the subject information, secure it, collect and disclose it in a HIPAA-compliant manner. The Final Rule may be downloaded at www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms.

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