CMS To Issue Modifications to Stage 1 “Meaningful Use” Rules

CMS has announced plans to revise certain details within the final rule for Stage 1 of the “meaningful use” incentive payment program, Government Health IT reports.

Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments.

The agency will provide on its website more specific information on how health care providers can demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 9/23).

Revising the Rule

Federal officials released the final rule for Stage 1 of the meaningful use program in July (iHealthBeat, 7/13).

Speaking Wednesday at a meeting of the Health IT Policy Committee’s meaningful use work group, Tony Trenkle — director of the Office of e-Health Standards and Services at CMS — said CMS soon will release clarifications aimed at addressing a few inconsistencies in the final rule.

He said the changes to the final rule are expected to provide clarification on some issues. Trenkle added that the revisions will guide the Policy Committee as it develops recommendations for future stages of the meaningful use program.

Preliminary Direction on Stage 2

In addition to the clarifications for Stage 1 of meaningful use, the meaningful use work group also discussed requirements of the program’s Stage 2 phase, scheduled to begin in 2013.

The panel is “backfilling” its development of Stage 2 by comparing Stage 1 requirements with where it wants to end up with Stage 3 in 2015, according to Government Health IT.

Possible preliminary requirements for Stage 2 include raising the performance level required for:

• Computerized provider orders;
• Electronic prescribing; and
• Other measures that began in Stage 1.

Paul Tang — chair of the meaningful use work group — said Stage 2 also should include more patient care data from EHRs to reduce health care providers’ reporting burden.

The work group also discussed requiring health care providers to link at least 20% of their patients with other members of a health care team to improve care coordination (Government Health IT, 9/23).

Blumenthal Weighs In

Meanwhile, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal has said he knows some details were overlooked in the process of releasing Stage 1 requirements.

For Stage 2, Blumenthal said health care providers and vendors should expect more complicated requirements on:

• Clinical decision support tools; and
• Health information exchange (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 9/21).

Next Steps

The meaningful use work group expects to release preliminary Stage 2 requirements in October. In December, the group plans to issue a request for comments on the proposed requirements (Government Health IT, 9/23).

Source: iHealthBeat