Clock starts ticking on meaningful use comments

The clock starts ticking today on a two-month window in which the public can comment on the Health & Human Service Department's "meaningful use" proposal, a set of rules outlining how providers can qualify for incentives for using electronic health records.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT officially published their rules in the Federal Register Jan. 13. The package comes in two parts: an ONC interim final rule (IFR) covering standards and certification of EHRs and a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services defining the "meaningful use" of health IT. According to CMS's meaningful use NPRM, the public has 60 days, or until March 15, in which to comment on the regulation after it is published in the Federal Register. Subsequent revisions will be made, with the final rule expected in spring of 2010.