Update on Standards: The Final Rule for Stage 1

Author:

Jared Rhoads, Erica Drazen

On July 13, 2010, CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology issued a final rule completing the adoption of an initial set of standards and implementation specifications. The rule describes what constitutes a Certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) Technology. Providers must use certified technology in order to meet the meaningful use Stage 1 objectives and receive incentive payments.

In this paper, we describe the final standards and implementation specifications that were issued, and reiterate our recommendation that providers start migrating to the adopted standards immediately. Successful adoption will entail internal assessments to understand gaps, and external assessments with vendors to understand their readiness to achieve certification.

Download "CSC Update on Standards: The Final Rule" (PDF, 197KB)

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