Medical organizations are closely examining the long-awaited, proposed “meaningful use” criteria developed by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The final criteria, to be phased in starting in 2011, will be crucial for providers interested in receiving bonuses of up to $64,000 for installing or upgrading electronic health record (EHR) systems.
“We've tried to build in flexibility in these standards and certification criteria as well as providing necessary guidance,” Dr. David Blumenthal, HHS' national coordinator for health information technology, said in a conference call. “We hope we've provided a pathway toward more uniform standards over time, while at the same time making it possible in 2011 for well-intended providers and health professionals who want to become meaningful users to become so, and for the industry to create technology that will support that.”
Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), a part of 2009's federal stimulus law, physicians who treat Medicare patients can get up to $44,000 over 5 years for the meaningful use of a certified health information system. Physicians whose patient populations are made up of at least 30% Medicaid patients can earn up to $64,000 in incentive payments for their use of the technology.
The regulations include a definition of meaningful use and outline other criteria for obtaining the full payments.
HHS issued two rules: one that outlines proposed provisions governing the incentive programs and an interim final regulation that sets initial standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for electronic health record (EHR) technology. Both regulations are open for public comment until March 15.
The criteria for achieving meaningful use start with certain minimum requirements in 2011 and build gradually, with more requirements added each year. For stage 1, which begins in 2011, meaningful-use requirements include:
▸ Use of computerized entry for 80% of all patient orders.
▸ Use of electronic prescribing for 75% of all permissible prescriptions.
▸ Maintenance of active medication and medication-allergy lists as part of the EHR for at least 80% of patients.
▸ Inclusion of demographic data (language, gender, ethnicity, insurance type, and date of birth) in the EHR of at least 80% of patients.
▸ Inclusion in the EHR of at least 50% of the lab results that can be recorded as either positive or negative or can be recorded with numerical data.
There are also requirements dealing with reporting quality data, filing claims electronically, encouraging patients to be more active in their care, improving care coordination, and ensuring privacy of health records.
In 2012, the rules tighten for submitting quality data. While providers are allowed to report quality data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) through attestation in stage 1, data must be reported directly through certified EHR technology in stage 2.
“By using certified EHR technology to report information on clinical quality measures electronically to a health information network, a state, CMS, or a registry, the burden on providers that are gathering the data and transmitting them will be greatly reduced,” according to a CMS statement.
Dr. Blumenthal emphasized that the regulations were still awaiting public comment. “These standards are intended to be iterative,” he said. “We'll carefully consider any comments about them and change the rule if we think it's required, based on those comments.”
The American Medical Association responded cautiously to the proposed regulations. “We want physicians in all practice sizes and specialties to be able to take advantage of the stimulus incentives and adopt new technologies that can improve patient care and physician workflow,” Dr. Steven Stack, a member of the association's board of directors, said in a statement. “We have provided ongoing input this year on standards for the use of EHRs and have stressed the importance of realistic timeframes for adoption, the removal of extraneous requirements that would delay successful adoption, and reasonable reporting requirements.”
The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) objected to the proposed criteria as being overly complex and likely to pose significant challenges to medical practices trying to meet the program requirements. MGMA's statement also objected to a requirement that physician offices provide patients and others with electronic copies of medical records.
The proposed regulations, fact sheets, and instructions on how to comment can be found at www.cms.hhs.gov/Recovery/11_HealthIT.asp
Dr. David Blumenthal calls on the IT industry to develop useful EHR software.
Source Courtesy HHS.gov