ONC privacy and security guide offers 10 steps for MU
May 9, 2012
ONC's Office of the Chief Privacy Officer (OCPO) has published a "Guide to Privacy and Security of Health Information," which aims to help physicians, nurses and IT staff better understand how the safety of patient data is essential to meaningful use of electronic health records and mobile devices.
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CMS EHR incentive payments surpass $5B
May 2, 2012
Medicare and Medicaid EHR payments have tipped the scales at over $5 billion to 93,650 physicians and hospitals in total program estimates through April. One year into the program to drive the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHRs, 42% of all eligible hospitals have received an incentive payment for either demonstration of meaningful use or, in the case of Medicaid providers, or to adopt, implement or update their systems.
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Mostashari urges providers to share ideas on quality
April 27, 2012
The changes taking place in U.S. healthcare as a result of rapid healthcare IT adoption leave the nation's health IT chief Farzad Mostashari optimistic - especially about improving quality, he told the audience at a April 26 meeting of the National Quality Forum. "When Congress wrote HITECH Act, they didn't micromanage what meaningful use would mean. But they did say, three things needed to be included, and one of them was quality measures."
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Fitch Ratings: EHR Incentive Pay Boosted Hospitals' Bottom Lines
April 27, 2012
Meaningful use incentive payments helped boost the bottom line of for-profit hospital companies by nearly $400 million in 2011, according to a report from Fitch Ratings.
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Deadline Nears for Stage 2 Meaningful Use Proposed Rule
April 26, 2012
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is reminding stakeholders that the public comment period for the proposed rule setting criteria for Stage 2 of the electronic health records meaningful use program ends on May 7.
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Work Group Finalizing Input on Meaningful Use Stage 2 Proposed Rule
April 24, 2012
On April 23, the Health IT Policy Committee's quality measures work group met in Washington, D.C., to discuss its final recommendations for the proposed rule for Stage 2 of the meaningful use program.
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CMS Corrects Stage 2 Meaningful Use Proposed Rule
April 17, 2012
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued a proposed rule making numerous corrections to the Stage 2 meaningful use proposed rule that was published on March 7.
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HHS proposes one-year ICD-10 delay
April 9, 2012
The loose contingent of health professionals railing against the ICD-10 delay will likely consider this welcome news: There is a document circulating the Web right now – with a stamp at the top suggesting it will be published in the Federal Register on April 17, 2012 – in which HHS proposes that the new compliance date for ICD-10 be October 1, 2014.
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CMS extends deadline to appeal EHR incentive eligibility
April 3, 2012
Physicians and other so-called eligible professionals still wanting to appeal their eligibility determinations for the 2011 Medicare electronic health-record incentive payment program will have an extra month to file those appeals, the CMS announced. The new deadline is April 30.
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Free MU Stage 2 Online Seminar
March 24, 2012
LSS Data Systems will be conducting a free online seminar titled "Meaningful Use - Preparing for Stage 2" on Thursday, March 29. LSS customers are encouraged to sign up here http://www.lssdata.com/customers/ under "Customer Trainings" (password required).

Enforcement on HIPAA 5010 delayed to June 30
March 15, 2012
The government announced it would delay enforcement of HIPAA 5010 transactions to June 30, 2012. It's the second three-month delay on enforcement made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS).
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CMS officially publishes MU2; comment countdown begins
March 8, 2012
Both the meaningful use and health IT standards and certification proposed rules officially appeared in the Federal Register March 7, which automatically launched the countdown for public comments for 60 days. The public may comment on the proposed rules through May 6 online.
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CMS Publishes New EHR Meaningful Use FAQs
March 1, 2012
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published five new frequently asked questions about the electronic health records meaningful use requirements and attestation.
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CMS issues proposed rule for Stage 2 of meaningful use
February 24, 2012
CMS has laid out the details for how it will raise the bar for healthcare providers to qualify for incentives with the release Feb. 23 of its proposed rule for Stage 2 of meaningful use of EHRs. Among its provisions, CMS will delay the start of Stage 2 until 2014 instead of 2013. CMS decided to delay the onset of Stage 2 by one year to 2014 because the original 2013 timeframe does not give vendors enough time to design, develop and test new functionality and providers to deploy it and track measures over the one-year reporting period. As a result, Stage 1 is extended until 2014.
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Attestation Results Are In!
February 23, 2012
MEDITECH is proud to announce that over 350 of our customers have successfully attested for Stage 1 Meaningful Use. By utilizing MEDITECH's EHR, our customers are leading the way in meeting the government's mandates for quality healthcare. Check out the new attestation promotional page that showcases customers of all sizes attesting.
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ONC gets $5M bump up in proposed 2013 budget
February 16, 2012
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT would receive $66 million, or $5 million more than the current year, under President Barack Obama's proposed budget for fiscal 2013. ONC's budget would increase 8.2% to advance the progress in creating a nationwide health IT infrastructure, including further accelerating the adoption of EHRs and their meaningful use by physicians.
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ICD-10 deadline do-over?
February 14, 2012
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will re-examine the timeline for ICD-10 conversion, according to published reports. Acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner reportedly told a group of reporters that the agency would take a look at the timeline.
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CSC Offers Lessons From Meaningful Use Stage 1, Predictions for Stage 2
February 8, 2012
Computer Sciences Corporation has released a report examining the lessons learned from Stage 1 of the meaningful use incentive program and predicting changes that could be introduced in Stage 2. The report includes a summary of Stage 1 criteria and recommendations to help health care providers prepare for Stage 2 attestation. HHS is expected to soon release proposed rules for Stage 2.
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Mostashari anticipates 'big win' in HIE in 2012
February 1, 2012
Dr. Farzad Mostashari, the national health IT coordinator, expects health information exchange to ramp up significantly in 2012 because the necessary elements of interoperability will be in place. Health information exchange will be a critical part of the meaningful use of EHRs as it moves to stage 2 in order to coordinate care and to share data to demonstrate improved patient outcomes.
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