Just when you thought the final rule was final…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will soon release clarifications on the meaningful use final rule that was published in July. While no exact date has been given for the release of these adjustments, they are currently being subjected to a federal clearance process before being published.
There’s no need to be alarmed. All indications are that the revisions are minor. They will include more in-depth descriptions of the meaningful use objectives and measures with a distinct aim to help providers plan for future stages. That’s something I think we can all agree is sorely needed.
Be sure to check out the CMS website for the release of these modifications as well are more guidance materials for health care providers on how to meet the objectives laid out in the incentive program.
The CMS website can be found here: http://www.cms.gov/
Discussions of Stage 2 & 3
That’s right there’s more. The adjustments to the Stage 1 final rule were not the only topic discussed at the recent Health IT Policy Committee meeting. The Committee also discussed the requirements for the next stages in the incentive program.
I think it’s safe to say that the Stage 1 requirements was a rushed undertaking and I believe the releases of Stage 2 and 3 should prove to be a smoother process.
That was until I read the methodology for determining the requirements for Stage 2. Apparently, the approach is to establish where the Committee wishes to be in 2015 for Stage 3, then to simply pick a middle point between Stage 1 & 3 and that becomes Stage 2. Sounds simple but forgive me if I remain skeptical.
The Stage 2 requirements are expected to go into effect in 2013 and will focus heavily on infrastructure and interoperability as they definitely should.
The first draft of the requirements for both Stage 2 & 3 are expected by late November and just like with Stage 1 will be take comments from the full Policy Committee and necessary revisions will be made.
Stay tuned for more updates on the future stages of meaningful use or feel free to leave a comment about what you’d like to see in Stage 2.
Cheers.
For those of you who may have missed it, we put together a fun video that explains meaningful use in non-technical terms. You can check it out here: https://blog.interfaceware.com/meaningful-use/ .
–Mike