The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released documents detailing what physicians and hospitals must do to qualify for (EHR) incentive payments under the HITECH Act. To qualify for incentives, physicians and hospitals must be using “certified EHR technology” in a “meaningful manner.” These documents were released on December 30, 2009, one day before they would officially be considered late.
These documents provide a list of features physicians and hospitals need to have included in their EHR technology and how these features are to used to meet the definition of meaningful use during the 2011 EHR adoption period.
There’s only one minor problem, there are no qualified organizations that can certify that your EMR is up to stuff including CCHIT. That’s supposed to come later this year. Instead of getting all puffed up about this I would say that the standard will have to be slimmed down and/or delayed, stay tuned.
By Jordan Glogau
Google