Healthcare Informatics is reporting that The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) expects to present draft recommendations for Stage 3 of the meaningful use program by August, and reconcile them in during Q3 2012 with the Stage 2 meaningful use Final Rule.
The Meaningful Use Workgroup of ONC’s Health IT Policy Committee reported in its July 3, 2012 meeting that it intends to present its preliminary recommendations for Stage 3 to the Health IT Standards Committee for feedback, issue a Request for Comment as soon as November, and publish final Stage 3 meaningful use recommendations in May 2013.
Several of the proposed recommendations for Stage 3 from the Meaningful Use Workgroup’s Subgroup on Population Health include:
- The capability of the electronic health record (EHR) to receive and review a patient’s immunization history from a public health registry
- The capability to received clinical decision support regarding recommended immunizations based on the historical record
- The capability to electronically send standardized healthcare-associated infection and vaccine-related adverse events reports to appropriate public health agencies.
The Care Coordination Subgroup reported that it is focused on the ability of EHRs to evolve to a collaborative care model of patient treatments, including the capability of a longitudinal history across multiple settings over a patients’ lifetime and a standards-based care plan.
In addition, hospitals and healthcare providers could be required to use EHR systems to track individual healthcare goals; facilitate reconciliation of medications, problem lists, goals and care plans; and enable input and viewing by all care team members, caregivers and patients.
For more information on meaningful use, including definitions, objectives, and resources, visit HealthIT.gov.
HNX Healthcare Update 