Federal officials have announced they will release the long-awaited final rule on meaningful use of healthcare IT, Tuesday morning.
Vendors and providers alike have been eager to see what the rule contains; vendors so they can make sure their electronic health records are meaningful-use worthy, and providers so they can begin collecting data by this October to qualify for the most incentives possible under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Beginning in 2011, office-based physicians whose patient mix includes at least 30 percent Medicaid beneficiaries are eligible for up to $63,750 over six years, while Medicare physicians can earn a maximum closer to $44,000. Hospitals stand to gain $2 million a year in incentives.
The proposed rule, released late last December, called for providers to comply with 25 measures and hospitals to comply with 23 measures to qualify for incentives under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services received thousands of comments through March 15 on the proposed rule, officials said.
At the American Hospital Association annual conference held this spring in Washington, DC, Rick Pollack, executive vice president for AHA said the proposed version was "asking for too much, too soon" of providers.
David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said he was sympathetic with their point of view.
Jodi Daniel, the ONC's director of the Office of Policy and Research has said the government is prohibited from adding anything new to the proposed rule, it can only alter items that are already proposed.
Federal and industry leaders have all indicated the meaningful use rules will see many iterations over the coming years.