ONC: Staying Focused on EHR Usability
by Helen R. Pfister and Susan R. Ingargiola, Manatt Health Solutions, iHealthBeat, Thursday, February 20, 2014

ONC’s 2014 Edition EHR Certification Criteria define the requirements that EHR technology must meet in order to be used by eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals (EHs), and critical access hospitals (CAHs) participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. In addition to these criteria, ONC made some policy changes to the HIT Certification Program.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced the launch of the Digital Privacy Notice Challenge, a new contest for health IT developers and designers to create an online notice of privacy practices (NPP) that is readable, understandable for patients, and seamlessly integrated into Web sites.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is extending the deadline for eligible professionals to attest to meaningful use for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program 2013.

"This extension will allow more time for providers to submit their meaningful use data and receive an incentive payment for the 2013 program year, as well as avoid the 2015 payment adjustment."

As part of an ongoing effort to empower patients to be informed partners with their health care providers, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken action to give patients or a person designated by the patient a means of direct access to the patient’s completed laboratory test reports.

CCHIT announced a new strategic direction that will return it to its founding public mission of supporting the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology. CCHIT plans to offer direct counsel to both healthcare providers and health IT developers on the requirements for certified EHR technology and how to best satisfy HIT regulations published by organizations and governments.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is hosting the CMS eHealth Summit on ICD-10. The Summit will be held on Friday, February 14, 2014, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET at the CMS Headquarters in Baltimore, MD.

At this meeting, representatives from various health care sectors will share their perspectives on preparing for the October 1, 2014, ICD-10 compliance date. Panels will include health care providers, payers and vendors, who will discuss best practices, address potential challenges, and available resources.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has released certification and meaningful use requirements for electronic health records (EHRs). These require that EHR vendors include evidence of user-centered design and user test results in their certification submission. To be able to obtain the ONC certification (and meaningful use funding) EHR vendors must follow a formal User Centered Design (UCD) process and perform summative usability testing on specific areas of the product.

ONC today released the Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) Guides. These guides are a suite of tools that include checklists and recommended practices designed to help health care providers and the organizations that support them assess and optimize the safety and safe use of EHRs.

The Obama administration has signed Accenture to replace CGI Federal as the main IT contractor on the HealthCare.gov health insurance exchange, according to a Jan. 10 Washington Post report. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-administration-to-end-contr...

The deal would have a 12-month term and is estimated at about $90 million, the Post reported.

Excerpts from HealthIT Buzz Blog post by Jacob Reider, MD / Acting National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

Date and time: Wednesday, January 15, 2014 3:00 pm
Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00)

Join the Next eHealth Provider Webinar on January 14 to Learn How You Can Prepare for Stage 2

Are you participating in the EHR Incentive Programs? Have you completed two or more years of Stage 1? If so, it’s time to start preparing for Stage 2 and earn an incentive for 2014 participation.

Join CMS for the next eHealth provider webinar on Tuesday, January 14th from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET to get ready for Stage 2.
What will you learn?

The Department of Health and Human Services announced that Dr. Karen DeSalvo, who currently serves as the City of New Orleans Health Commissioner and Senior Health Policy Advisor to Mayor Mitch Landrieu, will be the next National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

1. EHR Vendors will have more time to focus on their users.

a. To be able to obtain the ONC certification (and meaningful use funding for their customers) EHR vendors must follow a formal User Centered Design (UCD) process.
b. We recommend that EHR vendors follow ISO-9241-11 and show evidence that their design process is focused upon efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction.

2. EHR vendors will have time to perform many iterations of user testing.

Join ONC on Wednesday, December 18 for a webinar discussion regarding the proposed regulatory timeline for EHR certification criteria for 2015.

Web Conference Information

Conference Line: 888-469-1748
Meeting Number: 243-89

ONC subject matter experts will provide information about the new timeline and then will be available for a question-and-answer session following the presentation.

Agenda

Under the revised timeline, Stage 2 will be extended through 2016 and Stage 3 will begin in 2017 for those providers that have completed at least two years in Stage 2. The goal of this change is two-fold: first, to allow CMS and ONC to focus efforts on the successful implementation of the enhanced patient engagement, interoperability and health information exchange requirements in Stage 2; and second, to utilize data from Stage 2 participation to inform policy decisions for Stage 3.

NEW YORK, December 6, 2013 – WCH’ Service Bureau’s iSmart EHR has been tested and certified under the Drummond Group's Electronic Health Records Office of the National Coordinator Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) program. This EHR software is compliant in accordance with the criteria adopted by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued a four-page guidance sheet to aid eligible professionals in meeting Stage 2 meaningful use requirements covering a summary of care, clinical summary and patient electronic access to their medical record.

The document outlines the required data elements and provides additional guidance, according to CMS. “While some of the data elements are common between these three objectives, other data elements are individual to each objective.”

During an event on Monday, officials with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT said changes to Stage 2 of the meaningful use program are unlikely because it would require CMS to embark on a lengthy process of changing regulations, Healthcare IT News reports (Versel, Healthcare IT News, 11/19).
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