A work group of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT plans to release draft recommendations for Stage 3 of the meaningful use program by August, FierceEMR reports (Durben Hirsch, FierceEMR, 7/8).
Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record systems can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
During a July 3 meeting, members of the Health IT Policy Committee's meaningful use work group said that they hope to develop Stage 3 draft recommendations by Aug. 1 so a request for comment can be released by November and Stage 3 final recommendations can be published by May 2013 (Raths, Healthcare Informatics, 7/5).
Possible Draft Recommendations for Stage 3
The meaningful use work group's subgroup on population health has recommended that Stage 3 of the meaningful use program require EHR systems to have the ability to:
- Receive and review patient immunization data from a public health registry;
- Receive clinical decision support on recommended immunizations based on a patient's history; and
- Electronically send reports on health care-associated infections and vaccine-related adverse events to appropriate public health agencies (FierceEMR, 7/8).
Other Stage 3 recommendations under consideration would require hospitals and health care providers to use EHR systems to:
- Track individual health care goals;
- Facilitate reconciliation of medications, problem lists, goals and care plans; and
- Enable input and viewing by all care team members, caregivers and patients (Healthcare Informatics, 7/5).