The news just came out yesterday but it’s sure to have a significant impact for quite some time: Meaningful Use is getting more flexibility.

The federal government appears to have finally heard the calls for mercy regarding the timeline of the Meaningful Use program. A new proposed rule would provide eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals more flexibility in how they use certified EHR technology to meet the program's requirements.

“Our singular focus has been to keep patients as far from the hospital as possible. That has been key to our success,” said Larry Garber, MD, CMIO of Reliant Medical Group in Worcester, Mass., speaking during a session on how health IT is impacting care delivery and payment reform at the CMS eHealth Summit. “If I keep patients happier and healthier I make more money. We have had some of the highest quality scores in the country.”

Well-designed and rigorously tested EHR systems can improve care by making it easier to collect, share and interpret patient data, according to a paper from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Laboratory data-related interoperability and usability issues, however, can result in preventable patient safety risks.

COSTA MESA, Calif.--Mirth, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: QSII) and a global leader in health information technology, announced today that Mirth® Connect version 3.0.1 is compliant with the ONC 2014 Edition criteria and was certified as an Electronic Health Record (EHR) Module on May 1, 2014 by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), an ONC-ACB, in accordance with the applicable Eligible Providers (Ambulatory) certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The ONC 2014 Edition criteria support both Stage 1 and 2 Meaningful Use measures required to qualify eligible providers and hospitals for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The biggest health IT news this week involved price transparency and Meaningful Use.

BOSTON--A large multispecialty group with more than 300 providers, Mass.-based Reliant Medical Group is able to take on financial risk for 80 percent of its patients thanks to its cutting edge work to optimize its health IT.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has approved the American National Standards Institute for a second three-year term as the ONC-Approved Accreditor for the ONC Health Information Technology Certification Program.