Technology and North Dakota Health Ideas

Hi everyone,



Here is a link to the fact sheets that CMS has put on their website for meaningful use. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/Recovery/11_HealthIT.asp They start about half way down the page in the “Related links inside CMS” section. Here is the link to the meaningful use information on the HITECH website: http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1325&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=1&mode=2 . (Most of the links go to the same information as the CMS link.)



On the call last night, CMS did indicate that this is a proposed rule with a sixty-day comment period, so the final rule could change. They are looking for feedback on the proposed rules and the measures. If you have comments, you can either send it to them directly, or you can send them to me and I will consolidate them and submit in one document.



Additionally, during the call, CMS indicated that additional rule(s) will be released with stage 2 and stage 3 criteria. These will be issued later to take into consideration advancements realized from stage 1 (technology etc.) See table 1 on page 46 for state 2 and 3 implementation time frames.



Even though I have not had a chance to read the meaningful use document yet, I noted that starting on page 103 of the proposed rule (http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2009-31217_PI.pdf ) is the list of stage 1 criteria for Meaningful Use (Table2). Additionally, there are about 20 tables following Table 2 that list out all the proposed quality measures for electronic submission. Some of these are for professionals and some are for hospitals.



I am sure that other information will be forthcoming. As other information becomes available, I will continue to pass it on to everyone. If you happen to receive information that you feel would be helpful for everyone, please pass it on to me so I can forward it on.



Happy New Year





Sheldon H. Wolf

ND Health Information Technology Director

600 East Boulevard Ave. Dept 112

Bismarck, ND 58505-0100



Telephone (701) 328-1991

Fax (701) 328-3000

Email: shwolf@nd.gov