CMS/HHS Release Meaningful-Use Regs

The CMS and HHS' Office of the National Coordinator issued their much-anticipated final meaningful-use information technology regulations. These are the rules that hospitals and physicians must follow to be eligible for a portion of the $27.3 billion in financial incentives authorized by the stimulus act.

Responding to concerns from providers, hospitals and physicians will not be required to satisfy all of the objectives in the new standard in order to qualify. The new standard establishes a "core set of objectives" and a "menu set of objectives". "Meaningful" EHR users must meet the measure for each objective in the core set and meet all but five of the objectives in the menu set. The standard also adopts an incremental approach to requiring adoption of CPOE (computerized physician order entry).