Blumenthal exclusive: Meaningful use is one-time offer (Part One of Two-Part Series)

David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator for health information technology for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

As everyone gets a closer look at the final rule for meaningful use and EHR certification requirements, CMIO spoke with David Blumenthal, MD, chair of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), as well as CMIOs who will be charged with making it happen. In Part One of our two-part series, CMIO’s Jeff Byers spoke with Blumenthal about some of the ramifications of the final rule, and what's expected for Stage 2 and beyond.

Most clinicians know the adoption of health IT is where the world is heading, said David Blumenthal, MD, chair of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), during an interview with CMIO shortly after ONC and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final rules on meaningful use requirements and EHR certification.

“It’s all a matter of timing,” he said. “[The] federal government is making a one-time offer. We’ll put money on the table to help you now but we’re not going to put money on the table later. And that’s going to influence thinking of lots of physicians,” said Blumenthal.

The release of the 800-plus page document, to be officially published July 28 in the Federal Register, ended some of the uncertainty surrounding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) incentives for meaningful use of health IT. As much as $27 billion may be expended in incentive payments over 10 years. Eligible professionals may receive as much as $44,000 under Medicare and $63,750 under Medicaid, and hospitals may receive millions of dollars for implementation and meaningful use of certified EHRs under both Medicare and Medicaid.

“As physicians and other health professionals adopt EHRs, they are going to become increasingly demanding of vendors for better functionality, better usability and more comprehensive capabilities, and I think they will move the market using their professional understanding of what their patients need,” Blumenthal said. “I also think they will demand of the hospitals that the systems they use work for them and work for their patients.”

“This is very much a personal decision for many physicians and for other clinicians who make these kinds of decisions for their practices and I believe they will make that decision eventually and decide to adopt, but they’re going to have to look at what we’re asking and decide what’s right for them,” Blumenthal said.

Looking to the future, Blumenthal said that ONC expects that the requirements in the original notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for meaningful use that are optional in Stage 1 will be incorporated in Stage 2 as core objectives and that, by the end of Stage 2, ONC will have fulfilled the objectives that were originally in Stage 1.

“We also, I suspect, will be looking at more demanding forms of health information exchange and probably more decision support, more robust use of physician order entry and also administrative simplification. All those things are possible targets for 2013 and beyond,” Blumenthal said.

Next, in tomorrow's CMIO Daily News: Two CMIOs weigh in on the Stage 1 requirements for meaningful use.