Providers and patients must be confident that the electronic health information technology (health IT) products and systems they use are secure, can maintain data confidentially, can work with other systems to share information, and can perform a set of well-defined functions. To this end, an Interim Final Rule (IFR) on an initial set of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria was issued on December 30, 2009, with a request for comments.
This Interim Final Rule represents the first step in an incremental approach to adopting standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria to enhance the interoperability, functionality, utility, and security of health IT and to support its meaningful use. The certification criteria adopted in this initial set establish the capabilities and related standards that certified electronic health record (EHR) technology will need to include in order to, at a minimum, support the achievement of the proposed meaningful use Stage 1 (beginning in 2011) by eligible professionals and eligible hospitals under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs.
In a related announcement, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [PDF - 7.38 MB] on the definition of “meaningful use.” In order for professionals and hospitals to be eligible to receive payments under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs, provided through the Recovery Act, they must be able to demonstrate meaningful use of a certified EHR system. The proposed standards and certification criteria in the IFR are fundamentally linked to and specifically designed to support the 2011 meaningful use criteria.
