Meaningful Use Stage 2 Changes Bring Big Differences to Record Release

The following is a guest post written by Steve Emery, Director of Product Management at HealthPort discussing how Meaningful Use affects records release:

The following is a guest post written by Steve Emery, Director of Product Management at HealthPort discussing how Meaningful Use affects records release:

The Meaningful Use Stage 2 Notice of Proposed Rule Making is out and it would bring sweeping changes to how hospitals and eligible professionals release records and other information to patients.

Essentially, CMS is dropping three Stage 1 reporting criteria and replacing them with a core requirement for patient online access to medical records. CMS’s goal is to move the release of information (ROI) process from labor intensive and paper-based to electronic and paper-free.

This is a welcome change for HIM professionals and other ancillary departments that have been pulling files, scanning or making photocopies of records, and sending information to patients via snail mail for years. The changes are as follows.

FOR HOSPITALS

FOR ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS

Bottom Line for Providers

The bottom line for providers is that Stage 2 MU changes with regards to these specific criteria will drive organizations to implement a patient portal or personal health record application; and connect their EHR systems to these systems.  Through these efforts it is expected that patient requests to the HIM department for medical records will decrease; as patients will be able to obtain records themselves, online and at any time.

To make the new objective and measures truly “meaningful” facilities must advertise their portals and get patients to use them. Finally, only a minimum set of data is required to be available online. Facilities must still have a process to accommodate patients’ paper requests for other portions of their records.

To read the rule for yourself and zero-in on the items outlined above, here are a few tips:

1.  The pdf version of the rule (pre Federal Register) can be found by clicking here.
2. The new proposed objective for “Access” starts on page 91 for EPs or page 144 for hospitals.
3. The list of required record data for online access (if you want to get ahead of our next blog post) starts on page 97 for EPs or page 145 for hospitals.
4. If you prefer the table form for reviewing the requirements, that starts on page 156
5.  And the actual rule verbiage (not the comments and table mentioned above) is on page 406 for EPs or page 414 for hospitals.

About Steve Emery:

Mr. Emery has over 24 years of experience leading teams in the development and enhancement of healthcare information technology and has authored and contributed to numerous articles which have appeared in major healthcare publications on Meaningful Use and other healthcare related topics. Steve Emery is available for questions or interview regarding these specific Meaningful Use Stage 2 Criteria. He can be reached at: steve.emery@healthport.com