A Meaningful Definition

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) issued a final rule defining meaningful use requirements to qualify for incentive payments under the HITECH portion of the ARRA. The final rule for meaningful use is embedded below (it is temporarily available at the Public Inspection Desk, but this link will expire after the rule is actually published) and it is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register July, 28 2010. The rule definitively outlines all the specifics of Stage 1 meaningful use and clinical quality measure reporting to receive the incentive payments in 2011 and 2012. The final rule builds on the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) released December 30, 2009.

The definition of meaningful use attempts to harmonize criteria across other CMS programs as much as possible and coordinate with quality initiatives. It also is closely linked to the certification standards criteria in development by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and provides a platform for a staged implementation over time. The temporary certification final rule was published in the Federal Register June 24, 2010. The final rule on Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria is below the meaningful use rule.



Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria