Federal rules for HIT 'meaningful use' expected today

This long-awaited guidance will be published as a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register.  

Politico Pro: Stage Two Of HIT 'Meaningful Use' Delayed
Federal health IT officials said Wednesday that the proposed rules for the second stage of the federal program to fund electronic health records will be released Thursday. Office of the National Coordinator Director Farzad Mostashari and other top officials made the announcement at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in Las Vegas to two ballrooms packed full of people who had hoped to see the details earlier this week (Norman, 2/22).

Modern Healthcare: Meaningful-Use Regs Arrive Thursday, Mostashari Says
Long-awaited proposed regulations for Stage 2 meaningful-use requirements will be out Thursday, Dr. Farzad Mostashari, head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said. The proposed requirements, which will be published as a notice of proposed rulemaking, were sent to the Office of the Federal Register Wednesday, Mostashari said in a joint CMS-ONC education session at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's 2012 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas (Grace, 2/22).

In related news -

The Hill: Sen. Warner Calls For Tougher Standards For Electronic Medical Records
Congress's gambit to create a national system of electronic health records is "at risk of failure or mediocrity" if federal regulators continue to water down the standards that doctors and hospitals must meet, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) wrote in a letter to federal health officials. Lawmakers have set aside $27 billion in Medicare and Medicaid incentives for medical providers to switch to paperless records, and 780 products have already been certified under the first stage of the program created by the 2009 stimulus bill (Pecquet, 2/22).