1st Meaningful Use Definition Due June 16

HDM Breaking News, June 10, 2009

A workgroup of the HIT Policy Committee on June 16 will unveil its recommendations on the definition of "meaningful use" of electronic health records, confirms John Glaser, senior special advisor to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

"This definition, if approved by the committee, will be forwarded to ONC for consideration," Glaser said in an e-mail to Health Data Management. The full policy committee also meets on the 16th.

Hospitals and physicians must meaningfully use EHRs to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The law requires the Department of Health and Human Services to publish a final rule on the initial definition or definitions of meaningful use by the end of 2009. The definitions likely will expand in subsequent years.

Glaser, vice president and CIO at Partners HealthCare System in Boston, assumed his ONC position in early May to assist National Coordinator David Blumenthal, M.D., for six months.

For more information on the HIT Policy Committee and the meeting, click here.

--Joseph Goedert

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