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A Health Data Management-sponsored Web seminar in July offered early insights from stakeholders on the final meaningful use rule. The seminar can be listened to in its entirety at www.healthdatamanagement.com/web_seminars/-40614-1.html. Here are some tidbits:

The Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colo., is “in pretty good shape” to meet meaningful use criteria, but still has a lot of work ahead to get there, says Mary Ann Leach, vice president and CIO. Hospital officials are seeking medical leadership to lead the initiative, which is necessary for all provider organizations, she believes. As part of its preparations, the hospital is considering conducting a mock 90-day reporting period starting this September to get ready for the real thing in 2011.

Core EHR systems aren’t the only ones that likely will need to be certified as supporting meaningful use, says Pamela McNutt, senior vice president and CIO at Methodist Health System in Dallas. Many ancillary systems, such as those responsible for medication reconciliation and computerized provider order entry, also will need certification.

Linn Freedman, a partner in the law firm Nixon Peabody LLP, cautions that while quality reporting requirements are relaxed under Stage 1 meaningful use requirements, the pause will be short-lived. Federal officials, she predicts, will significantly ramp up such reporting in just a couple of years to support provisions of the health reform law. “There’s every indication that in Stages 2 and 3, they’re really going to be focusing on quality reporting.”