Happy New Year!

On the evening of December 30th, the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC HIT), led by Dr. David Blumenthal, released the "Interim Final Rules" regarding Meaningful Use of the electronic health record. Apart from a world filled with acronyms, (CIS, ONC, HITECH, ARRA, MU, EMR, EHR to name an elementary few), it appears that health care reform is integrally linked to HIT. While we've been blanketed by media impressions of the federal wranglings towards reform, it seems to many that the path set by the separately signed congressional bills are better understood as health insurance reform. On the other hand, the ONC is setting an agenda that has its origins in the ARRA (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) which earmarked as much as $36B to invest in and incentivize for improvements in health care delivery in the United States. In large part, these improvements will be facilitated by the institution of robust electronic technology that will not only create the building blocks for information input and storage, but will streamline the exchange of health information across local, state and federal boundaries.

The Interim Final Rules that were released on Wednesday night is actually a 556 page document that details the criteria for "eligible professionals" and hospitals to receive reimbursement for the implementation of electronic health records. Also outlined are regulations for quality reporting via PQRI and the need to create the means for interoperability between systems and institutions. As with any hefty document, operations and accounting regulations take up a chunk of weight as well.

After reviewing this document, I am proud to say that Baystate's CIS implementation has anticipated much of what it takes to achieve Meaningful Use status. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, a number of our FY10 projects will further advance our efforts to achieve MU as well as other institutional goals that will improve the quality and depth of care we provide to our patients.

Check out David Blumenthal's NEJM discussion released shortly after the publication of the mega-document. He does a nice job of distilling the essential elements of the ONC's efforts and defining some of the more commonly used terms in this ever-growing sector of medicine.

Launching HITECH