By
John Pulley
The federal Health IT Buzz blog today achieved "meaningful use" of sorts by providing 16 links to government resources on incentive payments, certification and other key health IT issues. The roundup included, you guessed it, meaningful use guidelines.
Peter Garrett of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), and Julie Franklin of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), posted the links. The intent is to help providers by facilitating the "journey to becoming a meaningful user of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology."
Health-care providers must demonstrate meaningful use of health IT to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments over the coming years. The blog post includes links to everything from a meaningful use overview and path to payment to an incentive timeline and a flow sheet for determining eligibility.
Links to information about EHR certification include an overview, a fact sheet and frequently asked questions on temporary certification, and a list of certified health IT products.
The post also includes links on health IT privacy and security issues and to information about the 62 Regional Extension Centers that are helping rural and smaller providers to adopt EHRs. There's also a link to sign up for ONC e-mail updates.
ONC administers the Health IT Buzz blog.
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