Vendor’s Claim Goes Overboard

On the exhibit floor at HIMSS11 in Orlando, EDIMS LLC is touting that its emergency department information system complies with Stages 2 and 3 of meaningful use objectives.


On the exhibit floor at HIMSS11 in Orlando, EDIMS LLC is touting that its emergency department information system complies with Stages 2 and 3 of meaningful use objectives.

That's an interesting claim considering objectives, or criteria, for Stages 2 and 3 don't exist. A federal advisory workgroup recently released for public comment its first draft of possible Stage 2 objectives, but the draft essentially comprises the initial thoughts of workgroup members in a long regulatory process that likely won't produce a proposed rule for Stage 2 until December at the earliest.

But EDIMS' claim of Stage 2 compliance turns out to be a case of poor wording. "You can't blame the company, you can only blame me," says Jamie Kohl, vice president of strategy and marketing. "I certainly didn't mean to be misleading."

What Kohl was trying to convey was that EDIMS, which has certified the ED system under Stage 1 criteria, understands that a primary goal of the HITECH Act is to have interoperability to enable caregivers to have the proper information when and where they need it, Kohl says. She used "objectives" in the context of meaning "goals" as data exchange requirements are expected to be much more rigorous in Stage 2, as a top goal of the stage is connecting disparate organizations and systems, she says.

--Joseph Goedert