business
Final certification rules passed
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 14, 2011
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced in January that it passed the final regulation for establishing a permanent certification program for electronic medical record systems being used to qualify for meaningful use incentives. It plans to complete the additional steps necessary to put those rules into place during the next year.
The regulations will replace the temporary program established in June 2010 to give health care organizations the chance to get a jump start on qualifying for incentives. That temporary program will remain in effect at least until its sunset date of Dec. 31, 2011.
All physicians hoping to qualify for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid's meaningful use incentive program must adopt an EMR that has been certified by an ONC-authorized certifying body. Those organizations will have to reapply for authorization to test under the final rules.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/02/14/bibf0214.htm.