It appears that practitioners are generally happy with the final rule on meaningful use that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the National Coordination (ONC) released on July 13.

The 864-page document, which took into account more than 2,000 comments received during a 60-day period, is significantly more flexible than earlier versions.

Specifically, the final rule includes “core” and “menu” requirements. During the first year of adoption, also called stage 1, physicians must comply with 15 core objectives, and may choose five more objectives from a menu of 10. This relief from an all-or-nothing approach should help more practitioners who have certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs) achieve meaningful use easily.

That doesn’t mean EHR implementation will be simple, however. Critics of the final rule note that although its CPOE requirement was scaled back quite a bit, the reporting burden will still be a challenge to individual physicians and small groups.

As a result, the earlier health care practitioners can get started the better.

Related articles: Healthcare CIOs offer first take on final rule

According to National Health IT Coordinator David Blumenthal, MD, quality measures are at the heart meaingful use. “The key to meaningful use is to know how to measure for performance and to be able to give feedback to providers,” he said at an October 2009 conference sponsored by the National Quality Forum, which promotes and develops quality measures.

The requirements for meaningful use in 2011 are tasks that many providers already perform.

• You must send prescriptions to pharmacies electronically.
• Your EMR must connect to other EMRs, such as those at hospitals and other provider practices.
• You must submit statistical information on quality of care to the government so it can determine if EMRs are improving the health care system.

However, for 2013 and 2015 meaningful use will increasingly support improved patient outcomes, said Paul Tang, vice chairman of the Health IT Policy Committee, a public-private panel that advises the national health IT coordinator.

The changing requirements are a poor reason to delay implementing an EHR (and missing out on significant incentive payments). Any EHR you implement will likely include upgrades to meet changing meaningful use requirements.

So act now! Planning for a transition to an EMR is important and with hundreds of thousands of practices moving to an EMR there could be a wait—particularly as 2011 approaches.

To be reimbursed for the installation of EMRs under Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), medical professionals must use a “certified” EMR in a “meaningful” way.

To this point, however, exactly what “meaningful” meant has been up for debate—and without a definition, medical professionals had two unappealing choices: wait to buy an EMR, or buy an EMR not knowing if it would meet future standards.

Now, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology has made recommendations regarding meaningful use criteria. E-prescribing, checking for drug-to-drug interactions, and maintaining an updated problem list are among them.

Physicians must also use these features in their practice on a daily basis to show meaningful use of their EMR system.

There’s still a long road ahead: The recommendations must be approved by David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health IT, after which they will be submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Then, CMS will use these recommendations to make the final meaningful use rules, which are due in December.

This news makes it safer for medical professionals to implement EHRs now, provided that you use a reputable vendor. Larger vendors have the resources to upgrade their products as necessary to meet meaningful use criteria. In fact, many are assuring customers they’ll make any necessary changes, and some are offering money-back guarantees if they don’t.