'Meaningful Use' Marks Solid Start for Federal Health IT Efforts

[Commentary] The Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record incentive program now moves into action mode. At last.

The final rules released last week made meaningful accommodations to doctors and hospitals who had complained loudly this past spring about overly burdensome draft rules. Despite some initial grumbling last week, I strongly suspect that doctors, hospitals, IT companies and EHR vendors will get down to the business of figuring out how to make this thing work -- for themselves and the nation. The task is huge, of course. It's a complex set of rules for everyone to absorb. There are no certified EHRs on the street, for one. The rules for an interim certification process were just released on June 18, and the final technical standards and certification criteria that EHRs must meet were released only last week, at the same time as the "meaningful use" rules that providers must meet. But the sheer magnitude of what has happened since February 2009 has propelled a sense of momentum and inevitability around significant change.

Health care leaders and rank and file providers alike are beginning to more fully comprehend that it's different this time. The loud and clear message: Stop being a part of the problem and become a part of the solution.