'Meaningful Use' Deadline Wavers

Uncertainty around the deadline for meeting the next stage of electronic health record usability measures notwithstanding, medical professionals should move quickly to meet current EHR "meaningful use" standards, according to a new report.

When to "attest" to meeting those standards is a different issue, writes Erika Drazen, managing partner of the Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Practices, a research arm of CSC, a Falls Church, Va.-based technology consulting firm. That's because, under the current federal timeline, hospitals would only have a few months to meet the second stage of meaningful-use standards after the requirements are set.

EHRs are expensive and complex, so the federal government is giving health care providers several years to build up to full operational capacity. Incremental meaningful-use goals are important because hospitals and physicians must prove they meet them to qualify for financial incentives from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. Hospitals have until Nov. 30 to attest to meeting the initial, or Stage 1, meaningful-use goals for this year; other "eligible professionals" have until Feb. 29, 2012.

An advisory committee has proposed delaying the deadline for meeting Stage 2 meaningful-use requirements, but CMS has not yet made the change. A delay is expected, though, because CMS usually follows the guidance of the Health IT Policy Committee. The National Coordinator for Health IT, Dr. Farzad Mostashari, also has endorsed the committee's recommendations.

Until the matter is settled, the CSC report recommends hospitals and other providers:

• Re-evaluate and consider updating Stage 1 EHR implementation plans to ensure their ability to build off those plans in the future.
• Begin to implement any deferred Stage 1 requirements as quickly as possible, allowing more time to deal with Stage 2 requirements instead of temporary Stage 1 workarounds.
• Implement computerized physician order entry capabilities "the right way from the start," since the requirements will be expanded under Stage 2 meaningful-use guidelines.
• Worry less about the EHR vendor's ability to meet a tight Stage 2 schedule and more about meaningful use itself, since most of the Stage 2 requirements are not new to the industry.