Meaningful Use Gets a Definition
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services have released for public comment proposed rules that help, among other things, to define “meaningful use” in the context of electronic health records systems. As astute readers will note, the federal government intends to start making incentive payments to qualifying providers in 2011 who can demonstrate meaningful use of a certified health record system. 2009 was spent trying to figure out just what that phrase means, and the proposed rules (available here) provide the first formal attempt at definition by CMS. (To read the remainder of this article, click here. Article courtesy of Tim Faith, Attorney At Law, and Tech Law Notes).