Update on Quality Measurement and Reporting: The Final Rule for Stage 1

Author:

Jane Metzger, David Classen

The HITECH provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provide billions of dollars in incentives for the adoption and use of Health Information Technology by Medicare and Medicaid providers over the next 10 years.  To receive the financial incentives (and avoid the eventual disincentives built into the program), eligible professionals and hospitals must achieve “Meaningful Use” of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology. On July 13, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the final rule defining the requirements for meaningful use in 2011 and 2012.

From the beginning, the HITECH program has been oriented to treating the journey to meaningful use of the EHR as an investment in improving health care, and quality reporting is one EHR function spelled out in the original legislation as an important element. Although the bar was lowered somewhat in the final rule, quality reporting remains one of the most challenging requirements for eligible professionals and hospitals to meet.

Download "Update on Quality Measurement and Reporting: The Final Rule" (PDF, 115KB)

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