Reminder: HIT Policy Committee (HITPC) Request for Comment Regarding Meaningful Use Stage 2
The request for comment period for the HITPC’s potential stage 2 meaningful use objectives will end on Friday, February 25. Please submit your comments. Your comments will inform the HITPC’s work in determining a longer-term vision for meaningful use of electronic health records.
Please see the HITPC’s Request for Comment posted on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s FACA blog for more details.
The Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC) is a federal advisory committee that advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on federal HIT policy issues, including how to define the meaningful use (MU) of electronic health records (EHRs) for the purposes of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs. The HITECH portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 specifically mandated that incentives should be given to Medicare and Medicaid providers not for EHR adoption but for meaningful use of EHRs. In July of 2010, HHS released that program’s final rule, thus defining stage 1 MU and strongly signaling that the bar for what constitutes MU would be raised in subsequent stages in order to improve advanced care processes and health outcomes.
The HITPC held six public hearings in 2010 including testimony from several dozen stakeholders and received additional dozens of public comments via its blog. All of this input helped to inform its many hours of public deliberations regarding the future vision of MU (e.g., stage 3) as well as the interim stepping stone of stage 2 MU that will set expectations for 2013 and 2014.
The HITPC has developed a preliminary set of recommendations specifically designed to solicit additional public feedback. The goal of sending out this request for comment (RFC) early is threefold.
1. Provide some signal to the industry of potential new EHR functionalities that the HITPC may recommend to help the industry get a head start on developing new functionalities.
2. Extend the public discussion of future stage MU definitions through a more formal public comment process well in advance of its formal final stage 2 recommendations to be issued in the summer of 2011.
3. Request input on specific questions.
Following analysis of the comments received through the approximately 45-day public comment period, the HITPC intends to revisit these recommendations in its public meetings in the spring of 2011. At that time, the HITPC will be able to review public comments in the context of the early feedback from providers on experience with stage 1 MU. That input will come through many vehicles: the Medicare program, the Medicaid program (both federal and state constituencies), the HIT regional extension program, and other sources. Note, this RFC solely represents the preliminary thinking of the HITPC and its Meaningful Use.
