Now that the ICD-10 panic has subsided the healthcare world is focusing on something new: Meaningful Use. Despite mixed reactions from the public and congress, many of whom expressed concern about the proposed changes and rules, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released the final rules for the changes to Meaningful Use Stage 1 and 2, the Stage 3 requirements and the 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria. The mixed reactions are born out of the reports that many healthcare providers that have yet to successfully achieve Stage 2, with “35 percent of hospitals and a small fraction of physicians” meeting the Stage 2 requirements.” If you haven’t been keeping up with the Meaningful Use news you can read some of our blog explaining meaningful use Stage 2 here. The statement from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated that the final rules and changes would hopefully “add new flexibilities for providers to make electronic health information available when and where it matters most and for health care providers and consumers to be able to readily, safely, and securely exchange that information.”
