CMS Announces Final Rules to Support Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records
Donald M. Berwick MD, the newly sworn in Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), made his first public appearance at a July 13, 2010 press briefing of the long-awaited "meaningful use" regulations as U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced final rules designed to help improve Americans’ health, increase safety and reduce health care costs through expanded use of electronic health records (EHR). View CMS press release on these regulations »
This regulation implements the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that provide incentive payments to eligible professionals and eligible hospitals participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs that adopt and use certified electronic health record technology. With “meaningful use” definitions in place, EHR system vendors can ensure that their systems deliver the required capabilities, providers can be assured that the system they acquire will support achievement of “meaningful use” objectives, and a concentrated five-year national initiative to adopt and use electronic records in health care can begin.
As a companion of the meaningful use rule, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released a regulation that identifies the technical capabilities required for certified EHR technology including the standards and certification criteria for the certification of EHR technology.
The meaningful use regulation makes final a proposed rule issued on Jan, 13, 2010. The Society submitted comments on that proposed rule in March of this year. “CMS received more than 2,000 comments on our proposed rule,” said Marilyn Tavenner, Principal Deputy Administrator of CMS. “Many comments were from those who will be most immediately affected by EHR technology — health care providers and patients. We carefully considered every comment and the final meaningful use rules incorporate changes that are designed to make the requirements achievable while meeting the goals of the HITECH Act.”
The Heart Rhythm Society’s Health Policy staff will continue analyzing the regulations and the implications on heart rhythm care.
Learn more:
- A CMS/ONC fact sheet on the rules: www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/
- Technical fact sheets on CMS’s final rule: www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/
- Technical fact sheet on ONC’s standards and certification criteria final rule: http://healthit.hhs.gov/standardsandcertification.
- Links to these rules via the Federal Register:
