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March 25, 2010

cdeemer

CMS Gets an Earful on "Meaningful Use"

UPDATED POST ON CMS / ADT MANDATES

Are you ready to share admissions, discharge and transfer (ADT) data with other providers in 2021? Sharing this information can help improve care coordination and lower readmissions, while failing to do so can put you in violation of a new CMS mandate. Click here to read our most recent post on CMS ADT E-Notification Regulation Overview for 2021

READ OUR ORIGINAL POST BELOW

March 15 marked the end of the public comment period on CMS’ proposed interim rule on meaningful use and PQRI. Now CMS is sifting through the 2,700 written responses to qualify those that are relevant and make sure they are given due consideration. According to Tony Trenkle, director of the CMS Office of E-Health Standards and Services, some 2,000 of the comments have been read thus far.
Since the rule is classified as an ‘interim final rule,’ the government can only act upon recommendations that suggest refinements to issues already addressed in the original text.
Common Public Suggestions:

  • Lower the bar for providers, allowing more to qualify for incentives
  • Give additional clarification on the rule
  • Allow flexibility in adopting measures for meaningful use
  • Set some measures as core, some measures as optional
  • Reduce the number of measures or the threshold of the measures

According to CMS, the more specific the comments are, the more likely they are to be used to guide CMS and ONC as they craft the final version of the rules.
Now that the public has had a chance to weigh in on the proposed rule, we are one step closer to a definitive and final ruling from CMS. The final meaningful use criteria are a hot topic and are absolutely necessary to promote confidence in the adoption of any health IT system. Release dates for the final version should be announced soon.
Stay tuned to blog.DrFirst to remain up-to-date with meaningful use and other industry information.


About cdeemer

As President of DrFirst, Mr. Deemer is responsible for driving the development, strategy and management of the company towards exponential growth and success. Mr. Deemer brings more than 12 years of healthcare industry experience to this position. He joined DrFirst in 2005 as the Director of Product Management and most recently served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager, where he managed the company’s tactical operations. Since joining DrFirst, Mr. Deemer has played an instrumental role in formalizing and driving improved business processes, while developing new technology strategies to leverage the benefits of e-prescribing for payers, hospitals, and health systems. He has also been a strong proponent of promoting interoperability in the eHealthcare industry by sharing prescription data between disparate systems. Prior to joining DrFirst in 2005, Mr. Deemer was Assistant Vice President of Product Management for PCS Health Systems/AdvancePCS and also led the e-prescribing and practice management product strategy for NDCHealth/Per Se (currently the RelayHealth division of McKesson).