By Dr. David Nilasena, Chief Medical Officer, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’, Southwest region

On Aug. 23, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published the final rule for Stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record incentive programs. The rule provides new criteria that eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals must meet to participate in the incentive programs.

Stage 2 Timeline

requirements. Now, the earliest that Stage 2 will be effective is fiscal year 2014 for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals or calendar year 2014 for eligible professionals.

early demonstrators of meaningful use in 2011 will meet three consecutive years of meaningful use under the Stage 1 criteria before advancing to the Stage 2 criteria in 2014. All other providers would meet two

Resources

For more information on Stage 2, please visit the CMS website at http:// www. cms. gov / Regulations-and-Guidance / Legislation / EHRIncentivePrograms / Stage _ 2. html

If you have not participated in the Medicare or Medicaid electronic health record incentive programs, or if you have never achieved meaningful use under the Stage 1 criteria, please visit the CMS website at www. cms. gov / EHRIncentivePrograms for more information about how to take part in the program. t

In the Stage 1 meaningful use regulations, CMS established a timeline that required providers to progress to Stage 2 criteria following two program years under the Stage 1 criteria. This original timeline would have required Medicare providers who first demonstrated meaningful use in 2011 to meet Stage 2 criteria in 2013. However, CMS delayed the onset of Stage 2

The table below illustrates the progression of meaningful use stages based on the year a Medicare provider begins participation in the program. Note that providers who were

years of meaningful use under the Stage 1 criteria before advancing to the Stage 2 criteria in their third year.

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As the chief medical officer of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Southwest region, Dr. David Nilasena, MD, MSPH, MS, has helped a broad range of health care provider groups understand the requirements of the electronic health record incentive programs since their inception in 2011.