The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was signed into law on February 17, 2009. As part of the ARRA, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act included funding of approximately $20 billion over the next 10 years to encourage the adoption of healthcare IT through Medicare incentive payments to hospitals and eligible professionals to encourage the use of electronic health records (EHRs).

The proposed rule was issued on Jan. 13, 2010. The final rule was issued on July 13, 2010 and includes modifications that address stakeholder concerns while retaining the intent and structure of the incentive programs. Requirements for meaningful use incentive payments will be implemented over a multi-year period, phasing in additional requirements that will raise the bar for performance on IT and quality objectives in later years. The final CMS rule specifies initial criteria that eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals, including critical access hospitals (CAHs), must meet.

David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, says, “The implementation of EHRs is an important first step. But EHRs will accomplish little unless providers use them to their full potential...and unless HIT becomes increasingly capable and easy to use.” Blumenthal envisions “an electronic circulatory system for health information that nourishes the practice of medicine, research and public health, making healthcare professionals better at what they do and the American people healthier."¹

In support of Blumenthal’s vision, MedeAnalytics helps hospitals use EHRs to their full potential. With our Clinical Performance Manager solution and Performance Management Consulting Services, we help hospitals meet the ARRA meaningful use requirements by:

• Providing technology to enable ongoing management toward meaningful use requirements
• Pulling data from disparate systems on a timely basis
• Presenting actionable intelligence to providers in a user-friendly interactive application that improves decision making and integrates with workflow processes
• Providing consulting services to help with planning, change management, process modification and quality measurement

Final Rule to Support Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records

Selected Initial Media Coverage

1. David Blumenthal, “Launching HITECH,” New England Journal of Medicine, December 30, 2009.
2. David Blumenthal, “Secretary Sebelius Announces Final Rules To Support ‘Meaningful Use’ of Electronic Health Records,” http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/07/20100713a.html, July 13, 2010.
3. Kathleen Sebelius, “Secretary Sebelius Announces Final Rules To Support ‘Meaningful Use’ of Electronic Health Records,” http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/07/20100713a.html, July 13, 2010.