Meaningful Use Guidlines

On Tuesday, July 13, 2010, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released the final rule defining how hospitals and health care providers can demonstrate "meaningful use" of electronic health records to qualify for federal incentive payments.

While the initial proposal released late last year contained an all or nothing approach, the rules released today include a differentiation between a "core" group of required objectives and a "menu set" of procedures so providers can receive partial credit. See the executive summary prepared by The New England Journal of Medicine, which whittles the lengthy document down to four pages.