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March 2, 2010

pkaufman

Time is Running Out to Give Your 2 Cents on “Meaningful Use”

Your chance to voice your opinion on the previously announced meaningful use requirements and the interim final rule on the Standards & Certification Criteria is quickly coming to an end on March 15th.
This 60 day comment period that began in mid-January is the public’s last opportunity to offer their invaluable suggestions before the proposed rules are finalized for 2011. We can all agree that these rules will inevitably change over the years as the needs of the industry and the capabilities of technology change, but this first set of guidelines is the foundation for the years to come. It is important for the public to comment on these guidelines because the public will be directly affected but their outcome. The health IT industry needs to step up and voice our opinions to ensure that our needs and concerns are heard and acted upon.

Any and all opinions will be considered, so do not hesitate to speak your mind.
The comments received during this period will be reviewed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) and a final revised proposed rule will be announced during the spring of 2010, to go into effect for the start of 2011.
All comments submitted will be considered and posted for public view at: www.regulations.gov
To read the proposed rules and comment on the meaningful use requirements, visit:
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/
To read and comment on the interim final rule on the Standards & Certification Criteria, visit:
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/
Participation is not mandatory, but I highly suggest you take advantage of this opportunity to participate. We cannot be sure as to when the next time the public will have a chance such as this to be heard.


About pkaufman

Schooled at MIT, Dr. Kaufman nurtured a strong interest in medical informatics while a Bowman Gray School of Medicine faculty member. After entering private practice he founded PiNK software in 1996 to produce EMR software, later becoming DrFirst’s chief medical officer upon its founding. He lectures nationally on various healthcare IT topics, and as a board certified gastroenterologist, he continues a limited clinical practice. Dr. Kaufman is a member of the Health IT Standards Committee, Privacy and Security Workgroup for ONC (Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology). Representing the American Gastroenterology Association’s (AGA), Dr. Kaufman is a delegate to the AMA and was the co-chair of the Physicians Electronic Health Record Consortium (PEHRC). He has participated on workgroups at CCHIT (stand-alone e-prescribing), HIMSS (e-prescribing), and NCPDP (e-prescribing).