An Update to Meaningful Use

On June 16, I wrote about the release of the draft definition of meaningful use.

Today, at the HIT Policy Committee meeting, the final definition of meaningful use was released and adopted. What was changed?

1. For inpatient CPOE, only 10% of orders must be entered electronically
2. For problem lists, ICD9 or SNOMED must be used
3. Advanced directives must be recorded
4. Smoking status must be recorded
5. Quality measures must be reported to CMS
6. Clinicians and Hospitals must implement at least one clinical decision rule relevant to a high clinical priority
7. Administrative transactions, including eligibility and claims, must be completed electronically

Also, the timing of meaningful use was clarified in this presentation on Slide 12 and 13

The Meaningful Use Workgroup recommended use of an 'adoption year' timeframe (i.e., '2011 measures' applies to first adoption year even if HIT adopted in 2013; '2013 measures' applies to 3rd adoption year.

Thus, clinicians can still receive partial stimulus funds if they implement 2013-2015 instead of 2011-2013, and they can follow the same path as early adopters instead of an increasingly difficult set of criteria.

The Committee also discussed options for certification which I encourage you to read.

A very important meeting today. Now that meaningful use has been defined and approved, the HIT Standards Committee can complete its initial standards and certification criteria recommendations, which will be delivered next Tuesday.