Stage 2 Meaningful Use Deadline Postponed to 2014
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is extending the electronic health records (EHR) compliance deadline for Stage 2 meaningful use standards until 2014.
Under current rules, eligible physicians and hospitals that began participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2011 would have to meet Stage 2 requirements in 2013. Those that joined in 2012 would have to meet them in 2014. Now, current participants in the program will also have until 2014 to meet requirements.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the move is intended to make it easier to adopt health IT.
“When doctors and hospitals use health IT, patients get better care and we save money,” said Secretary Sebelius in a news release from HHS. “We’re making great progress, but we can’t wait to do more. Too many doctors and hospitals are still using the same record-keeping technology as Hippocrates. Today, we are making it easier for health care providers to use new technology to improve the health care system for all of us and create more jobs.”
For more information about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, see www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms.