It might not be a complete copy and probably a little more lax, but it will be very similar.
I went to HIMSS, was nice to get out of town. Lots of hubbub on meaningful use and certifications. Alot of EHR software out there. Just keep in mind that not all healthcare is the same. Non-profits, for profits, ambulatory, emergency, mental, dental...
The judges are tallying the comments. Within days a final rule on “meaningful use” will be published. At that point the debate should be over and the real work should begin.
There seems little doubt that the definitions, guidelines and timetables for “meaningful use” will be watered down. The question is how much.
The industry seems to want them watered down a lot.
HIMSS vice chair Mark Segal of GE Healthcare wants the guidelines to be “more pragmatic,” given how much of the market will consist of first-time users of Electronic Health Records (EHRs).
They want more time for testing and training, and a single standard applied to moving records.
That’s too much water for the National Partnership for Women and Families, whose Consumer Partnership for eHealth — which includes big stakeholders like the AARP — sent in their own comments and posted them on the Web.
Their comments are far more supportive of the proposed rule released in December, emphasizing the need to deliver data to patients, through Personal Health Records (PHRs).
Their letter also zeroed in on one area that seems most certain to be watered down, the deferment of some criteria, and choices on making other sections mandatory. The partnership insisted that guidelines on privacy and security, along with patient engagement, be in the mandatory pile.
Where you stood on the rules depended on where you sat. HIMSS represents software companies and hospitals, which badly want that sweet, sweet stimulus cash with as little hassle as possible. The Partnership represents patients, smart ones, and wants their interests in getting data treated as paramount.
Once the final rules on meaningful use are issued, of course, the agency still has to decide who will certify software as meeting those standards. The HIMSS-linked Certification Commission on Health IT has raised its hand. So has The Drummond Group, a mainstream interoperability testing lab for the computer industry.
There is a lot of money at stake here, but there is also a lot of bureaucratic “inside baseball” involved as well, baseball NCHIT David Blumenthal seems to almost delight in. He’s the umpire here and he’s getting ready to make the call.
