You may have read or heard about the new federal policy surrounding the use of an electronic health record (EHR). Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments will be distributed to providers and hospitals for the "meaningful use" of certified health IT products. This means that you cannot just purchase an EHR. You have to demonstrate that you are actually using it in a meaningful way.

NEW RULES PROPOSED
On December 30, the Department of Health and Human Services released 25 proposed meaningful use criteria that eligible providers need to meet in order to earn incentives. This Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) established the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, commonly referred to as the Meaningful Use of an EHR. The department also released the Interim Final Rule that established the Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications and Certification Criteria for EHR Technology. Read the entire text of the Electronic Health Record Incentive
Program Proposed Rule


FACT SHEETS
For an overview about the incentives and some more information about the proposed criteria, please take a look at this HIMSS meaninful use fact sheet.

Allscripts has updated its Stimulus 101 document. They are also providing free webcasts on the topic, and I urge you to sign up by going to www.allscripts.com.

IMPORTANT DATES
The timeline for all this going into effect is pretty short. The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs begin January 1, 2011 for eligible healthcare professionals.

Beginning January 1, 2015, any eligible professionals who bill Medicare or Medicaid for services rendered but cannot demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology will be paid less than 100 percent of the fee schedule.

There will be more discussions on this topic over the ensuing weeks. I am happy to discuss the issues around meaningful use in more detail. Please email me with comments or questions that you may have.

Adrian Rawlinson, M.D., is the Medical Informatics Director at Brown & Toland Physicians. Reach him at arawlinson@btmg.com.