RSS feedTwo things made this a beneficial week for people in America.
The first positive thing is just knowing that the World Cup of soccer won’t be occurring for another 4 years. My mind marvels at the fact that the rest of the world loves this sport with a passion. On television, a great majority of this sport looks like ping pong expanded to fit onto a field. In addition, apparently if you breathe on someone the wrong way in soccer, it’s common practice that the offended party throws themselves on the field as if they have just been assassinated. I haven’t seen acting this bad since the explosion scenes in the second and final season of The Rat Patrol. Thankfully, ice hockey training camps open in 7 weeks to assist me in getting memories of this “sport” out of my head.
The second positive thing that occurred holds the promise of transforming a great deal of the health care system in the United States. The final rule was released by CMS this week involving the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR).
The rule clarifying meaningful use differed slightly from the proposed rule. Originally, there were 25 standards that had to be satisfied in order to meet the definition of meaningful use. In the final rule, only 20 markers will need to be met in the beginnings of the program, with the 25 standards having been divided into two groups.
The first group consists of 15 “core” standards which must be met. These include such things as electronic prescribing, implementing and maintaining lists of drug interactions and drug allergies, the recording of patient smoking status and the reporting of quality measures to CMS. The remaining 10 standards are now placed in what is called a “menu set”. In order for a provider to demonstrate meaningful use, one can meet any five of the remaining ten criteria from the menu in addition to the core standards. This would be in effect for the first part of the incentive program, with the expectation that the remaining 5 standards on the menu will eventually be satisfied.
Based on the number of comments received on the proposed rule about the burdensome nature of meeting some of the core standards, CMS has sharply reduced the percentage of patients that must fall under 8 of the standards.
With the release of this final rule, providers can now begin a one-year journey toward demonstrating meaningful use and maximizing incentive payments from CMS. The process of selection of a certified EHR system can now begin in earnest, if it has not already. As stated in a previous post here, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is currently in the process of certifying health systems with the ability to meet the meaningful use standards. After selection of a certified EMR system, a registration link through the CMS website will become available sometime in January of 2011 that will allow providers to register to participate in the incentive program.
It is a time of paradigm shift in American health care. The release of this final rule brings all of us one step closer to fundamentally altering the doctor/patient end of the delivery system. A period of high drama, either from dread anticipation of this final rule or from attempting to guess which soccer player pretends he’s just been killed, has come to an end, with many new beginnings to follow.
