HIMS 110
Professor Pharissa Robinson
Final Current Event

CMS
Quite a few changes have been going on with CMS. These change started after the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which included the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs a few years ago. The nation has seen a groundbreaking growth in the adoption of the Electronic Health Records. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, have created a new timeline which is in reference to the implementation of meaningful use for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, ONC, also has proposed a better approach to update their, the ONC, certification regulations. One of these major changes is the timeline extension given for stage 3 from stage 2.
CMS and ONC both feel that more time is needed to better structure the program and its requirements. The program has three stages. Stage 1 is the approach to the program’s participation. Stage 2 is the exchange of the health information. Stage 3 focuses on the improved outcomes. The goal and purpose of the extension is to focus all efforts on enhanced patient engagement, interoperability, and health information exchange in stage 2 and to utilize data from stage 2 to “inform policy decisions” for stage 3, as stated by Robert Tagalicod, Director of CMS’ office of eStandards and services. Stage 2 will continue throughout 2016 and stage 3 will commence in 2017 for the providers that have successfully completed at least 2 years in stage 2.
This decision came about after many discussions and conversations the CMS and ONC have had with consumers, providers, health care associations, EHR developers, and other stakeholders in the healthcare industry, as was stated by the CMS and ONC. Many stakeholders and others have called for Stage 2 to be