HIT Policy Committee Relaxes Meaningful Use Requirements
In their monthly meeting, the HIT Policy Committee recommended relaxing the standards related to meaningful use criteria.
On Wednesday, the HIT Policy Committee reconvened for their monthly meeting in Washington to discuss a host of issues relating to “meaningful use.” Approving the recommendations from their work group, the committee called for a relaxation of the standards that providers must demonstrate to meet the “meaningful use” criteria of electronic health records. The committee recommended that the government abandon the former “all or nothing” method that was suggested in December. Instead, the group proposed allowing more flexibility related to meaningful use so that providers could defer meeting certain proposed guidelines between 2011 and 2013. The recommendation stipulates that providers must comply with at least one rule from each of the “priority areas” to meet the “meaningful use” guidelines and receive federal incentive subsidies. The one caveat was that healthcare organizations cannot defer on meeting the security requirements. The five priority areas defined under the recommendation are: care coordination, patient engagement, privacy and security, public health, and quality and safety. Finally, the committee recommended that certain measures remain mandatory for providers working to achieve “meaningful use,” including:
- Proving patients with electronic copies of medical instructions
- Recording patient demographics
- Sending prescriptions electronically
- Utilizing computerized physician/provider order entry (CPOE) systems
Overall, the recommendations made by the committee are an important step for supporting health information technology adoption throughout the country. By relaxing the proposed standards, the committee has provided smaller and less well funded healthcare delivery organizations a greater chance for participating in the federal health IT initiatives. While the organizations must ultimately achieve all the guidelines put forth by the government, the new flexibility will allow providers the ability to adopt the guidelines in a more affordable way.
Kevin Fickenscher, MD
The views and opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Dell Services or its affiliates.
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