CMS has published a proposed rule providing standards and guidance for Stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program (the “Program”). The CMS proposed rule explains the requirements that eligible professionals and hospitals must meet to qualify for meaningful use incentive payments under the Program.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) has also issued Stage 2 certification standards. The ONC standards establish the technical requirements that electronic health records (“EHR”) must meet to become certified as supporting Stage 2 meaningful use criteria.
Basically, the CMS proposed rule governs the requirements that providers must meet in order to qualify for meaningful use and successfully obtain EHR incentive payments. The ONC certification standards govern the requirements that EHR must meet so that such EHR can be used by providers to qualify for meaningful use.
Stage 2 of the Program is set to begin no earlier than 2014 (for participants who met the Stage 1 requirements in 2011 or 2012). Comments on both proposed rules are due by 5:00 p.m. on May 7, 2012.
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