Health information technology (IT) developers, providers and consumers will get more flexibility through a final rule issued today by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The final rule adds flexibility as well as clarity and improvements to the current 2014 Edition EHR certification criteria and the ONC Health IT Certification Program through a new “release” of optional and revised criteria (“2014 Edition Release 2”).
The certification criteria and program updates included in the 2014 Edition Release 2 final rule were proposed earlier this year. In consideration of public comment received on the proposed rule, the 2014 Edition Release 2 final rule provides alternative certification criteria and approaches for the voluntary certification of heath IT.
“This final rule reflects ONC’s commitment to continually improve the certification program and respond to stakeholder feedback. It provides more choices for health IT developers and their customers, including new interoperable ways to securely exchange health information. It also serves as a model for ONC to update its rules as technology and standards evolve to support innovation,” said Karen DeSalvo, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc., national coordinator for health IT.
The rule also finalizes the extension of Stage 2 through 2016 for certain providers and announces the Stage 3 timeline, which will begin in 2017 for providers who first became meaningful EHR users in 2011 or 2012.
An updated meaningful use timeline and a chart with 2011 and 2014 CEHRT Edition options are below.
Updated Meaningful Use Timeline
| First Payment Year |
Stage of Meaningful Use | ||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
| 2011 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 -> 2 | 3 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| 2012 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 -> 2 | 3 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
| 2013 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | TBD | TBD | TBD | ||
| 2014 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | TBD | TBD | |||
| 2015 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | TBD | ||||
| 2016 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 2017 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||||||
| Previous Stage 3 Start Date | |||||||||||
| New Stage 3 Start Date | |||||||||||
Systems Available for Use in 20
CEHRT SYSTEMS AVAILABLE FOR USE IN 2014
| If you were scheduled to demonstrate: | You would be able to attest for Meaningful Use: | ||
| Using 2011 Edition CEHRT to do: | Using 2011 & 2014 Edition CEHRT to do: | Using 2014 Edition CEHRT to do: | |
| Stage 1 in 2014 | 2013 Stage 1 objectives and measures* | 2013 Stage 1 objectives and measures*-OR-
2014 Stage 1 objectives and measures* |
2014 Stage 1 objectives and measures |
| Stage 2 in 2014 | 2013 Stage 1 objectives and measures* | 2013 Stage 1 objectives and measures*-OR-
2014 Stage 1 objectives and measures* -OR- Stage 2 objectives and measures* |
2014 Stage 1 objectives and measures*-OR-
Stage 2 objectives and measures |
*Only providers that could not fully implement 2014 Edition CEHRT for the EHR reporting period in 2014 due to delays in 2014 Edition CEHRT availability.
The final rule released today can be found here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2014-21633.pdf
