WASHINGTON – Public comments will play a major role in defining meaningful use of healthcare IT, according to federal officials.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will accept comments through March 15 on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the EHR Incentive Program for Medicare and Medicaid.
David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said the NPRM, published Jan. 13, is not a done deal.
"We want to get it as right as possible," he said during an HIT Standards Committee meeting on Jan. 20. "I would not hold back any comments because you think they are irrelevant. If it's within the scope of the regulation, we want to hear about it and we'll try to get it right."
The proposed rule contains 25 measures that providers must use to qualify for federal incentives beginning January 2011. The rule also contains 23 measures through which hospitals must demonstrate meaningful use of healthcare IT for incentives beginning Oct. 1, 2011. The incentives are spelled out in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
Jodi Daniel, the ONC's director of the Office of Policy and Research, said the ONC's ability to change the proposed rule will be limited to removing or tweaking aspects already there. The government is prohibited from adding anything new to the proposed rule because it will not have allowed for that item to have prior public comment, Daniel said.
Karen Trudel, deputy director of the CMS Office of E-Health Standards and Services, said the goal of those framing the rule was to build a good solid base. "We were that trying to be inclusive and get measures on the table and get everybody talking," she said.
Trudel said the CMS and ONC are hoping the comment process will help refine the measures proposed for 2011.
According to Trudel, the more specific comments are, the more likely they are to be used. The best way to comment on the proposed rule is online at regulations.gov. The federal government will issue a final rule on meaningful use in late spring, she said.
