Meaningful use turns 1
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July 13, 2010: Meaningful use Stage 1 rules were issued, in an 864-page document. Reaction from all sides, including CMIOs, was swift and mixed, lauding somewhat more relaxed measures than were included in the initial proposal, but leery of the tight deadlines for meeting the rquirements.
September 2010: The first ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs) were announced on Sept. 3, charged with testing and certifying EHRs and EHR modules for meaningful use. The Certification Commission for Health IT (CCHIT) of Chicago; and Drummond Group of Austin, Texas, were the first ONC-ATCBs. They were eventually joined by four more: InfoGard Laboratories of San Luis Obispo, Calif.; ICSA Labs of Mechanicsburg, Penn.; SLI Global Solutions of Denver; and Surescripts of Arlington, Va.
Jan. 3: The ONC issued the final rule to establish the Permanent Certification Program for Health IT (Permanent Certification Program), which will eventually replace the temporary certification program. The temporary certification program, which was established in June 2010, will sunset on Dec. 31 or when the processes necessary for the permanent certification program to operate are completed.
Jan. 6: Kentucky and Oklahoma issued the first Medicaid EHR incentive payments.
Jan. 12: The ONC Health IT Policy Committee issued a request for comments regarding meaningful use Stage 2. Comments were accepted through Feb. 25.
April 18: Hospitals and physicians eligible to participate in the Medicare EHR incentive program began attesting that they met the program’s meaningful use requirements.
May 19: The Medicare EHR Incentive Program issued the first round of payments totaling $75 million to providers that signed up during the first weeks of the program.
May 26: CMS estimated that more than 42,600 eligible professionals and hospitals had registered for the Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs, and 485,000 are potentially eligible to participate. More than 300 eligible professionals and hospitals had received payments.
June 8: The HIT Policy Committee urged that the ONC delay implementation of Stage 2 requirements. Vendors and providers alike have commented that the current schedule for compliance with Stage 2 objectives in 2013 would be an extremely difficult timing challenge for those who attest to meaningful use in 2011, as stated in the draft letter
June 20: ONC approved the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as the ONC-Approved Accreditor for the Permanent Certification Program. ANSI was authorized to accredit organizations to certify EHR technology and perform other responsibilities under the permanent certification program.
July 1: Approximately 69 percent of respondents to the CMIO Top Health IT Trends Survey reported that their organization had an EHR in place and 26 percent said their organization would be implementing an EHR in the next 12 months.