On Aug. 23, CMS announced a final rule to govern Stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs. The rule specifies the Stage 2 criteria that eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals must meet in order to continue to participate in the EHR Incentive Programs. Among other provisions, the Stage 2 final rule adjusts the timeline laid out in the Stage 1 regulations, giving providers more time to meet Stage 2 criteria, so that providers will not be required to meet Stage 2 meaningful use before 2014.
AMA staff is reviewing the 670 page regulation and will provide an analysis in the near future. The OMA will share that analysis once it is available.
More information on the Stage 2 rule can be found at the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website at www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms.
A CMS fact sheet about the Stage 2 final rule is available at www.cms.gov/apps/media/fact_sheets.asp.