In
February 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which provides Medicare or Medicaid
incentives (not both) to each eligible health care provider who
demonstrates the meaningful use of an electronic health record
system.
Review the incentive timetable ››What is Meaningful Use?
Eligible providers achieve meaningful use by demonstrating that their
utilization of a certified electronic health record system meets a set
of explicit objectives. In general, these objectives require providers
to collect a specific set of data about patients and encounters, store
the data in a computer database, and perform a number of computations
based on that data.
The first stage of these objectives was released in July 2010. The
ARRA law envisions three stages of objectives, to be rolled out
gradually through 2015. Stage 2 requirements were approved in 2012, and
will be effective in 2014. Proposals for Stage 3 requirements have not
been released.
What's a Certified EHR?
The federal government has hired several private organizations
to review and certify EHR systems as being eligible for this
program.
Can I Get Help?
Yes. The ARRA law provided money for each state to establish a
Regional Extension Center to help eligible providers install an EHR
system and become eligible for Medicare or Medicare incentives.
What else did ARRA do?
ARRA directed the Department of Health and Human Services to
promote the development of a nationwide interoperable Health IT
infrastructure. It also established a policy and standards
committee to advise HHS on Health IT policy, framework, standards,
implementation specifications, and certification criteria for
EHRs.
