Update: CMS, ONC Ease EHR Certification Requirements For MU

Tom Sullivan, | Government Health IT | May 30, 2014

Healthcare providers and the IT vendors who serve them just got a dose of welcome relief from the increasingly controversial certification pieces of meaningful use.

That came in the form of a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT jointly circulated on Tuesday to “change the meaningful use timeline and the definition of certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT),” the agencies wrote in the rule. “It would also change the requirements for reporting clinical quality measures for 2014.”

And it appears to be arriving none too soon. “Vendors aren’t ready, no subject matter experts are available to implement upgrades,” said Mandi Bishop, president of FloriDATA Foundation, and a self-described hardcore data geek and patient engagement advocate. “Products aren't fully-baked. Providers are frustrated.”...