Meaningful Use Stage 2 Final Rule Published

UPDATE: For those not wanting to go through all 672 pages of the meaningful use stage 2 final rule, ONC has put out this summary PDF.

Today, CMS publishes the meaningful use Stage 2 Final rule in the Federal Register. The MU stage 2 final rule is 672 pages long.

The HHS press release announcing the EHR incentive money stage 2 final rule also offered these important points to note:

  • Make clear that stage two of the program will begin as early as 2014. No providers will be required to follow the Stage 2 requirements outlined today before 2014.
  • Outline the certification criteria for the certification of EHR technology, so eligible professionals and hospitals may be assured that the systems they use will work, help them meaningfully use health information technology, and qualify for incentive payments.
  • Modify the certification program to cut red tape and make the certification process more efficient.
  • Allow current “2011 Edition Certified EHR Technology” to be used until 2014.

The second point annoys me a little after hearing about some of the EHR certification fraud and issues it could cause providers that attest to meaningful use.

The press release also offered the following EHR incentive participation numbers:
-120,000 Eligible Health Professionals have participated
-3,300 Hospitals have participated
-More than half of all eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals and 1 out of every 5 eligible health care professionals

Watch for more detailed coverage of the meaningful use stage 2 final rule in our ongoing Meaningful Use Monday series.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

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