CHIME'S analysis of the government's final rule on electronic health records certification concludes that certification criteria will change, necessitating the ongoing need to certify health IT products for the foreseeable future.
The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) released the final rule for the temporary certification program on June 24.
The permanent certification program will replace the temporary program as soon as Dec. 31, 2011. However, the analysis by CHIME (College of Health Information Management Executives) indicates that certification criteria will continue to change.
"CHIME found that the recently released final rule suggests that electronic health records will need to be certified on an ongoing basis, and that meaningful use criteria are likely to evolve over time," the organization said in a statement it released Thursday.
To receive stimulus funds, eligible hospitals and providers that implement electronic health records must demonstrate that they are using them to improve care delivery and clinical results. The plan originally proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would require providers to give evidence that their systems are achieving certain standards to show they're using EHRs in meaningful ways.
The original plan anticipated that the measures for demonstrating meaningful use would get tougher every two years over the three stages of the program. Providers can enter the program at any time over the next four years by meeting Stage 1 meaningful use criteria.
While the industry is uncertain about the final shape of the meaningful use objectives that CMS will choose, the temporary certification final rule suggests that Stage 1 criteria could become tougher over time.
"Regardless of the year and meaningful use stage at which an eligible professional or eligible hospital enters the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, the certified EHR technology that they would need to use would have to include the capabilities necessary to meet the most current certification criteria," the temporary certification rule notes.
