Meaningful Use Timeline
The Federal Government has set a clear timeline for healthcare providers to complete the adoption of healthcare IT, including electronic health records. Understanding the timeline, milestones for accomplishment and having a strong partner are imperative to meet the timeline requirements without disruption to day-to-day clinical workflows.
See below for a chronological order of the milestones for healthcare providers to meet the Federal regulations for healthcare IT adoption. And contact our team if you need help navigating the adoption of new technologies.
Meaningful Use: A Timeline
- 1996: HIPAA empowers the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue regulations that would address the privacy and security of health data.
- 1998: HHS issues its first draft of the regulations implementing administrative, technical and physical safeguard requirements for electronic protected health information.
- 2003: HHS issues its final security regulations, which gives approximately two years for covered entities to come into compliance.
- 2005: HHS announces enforcement regulations, giving CMS authority to audit covered entities for security regulations compliance.
- 2009: President Obama signs into law a $789 billion dollar economic stimulus package known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Included in ARRA legislation is the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, also known as HITECH. HITECH allocates $19 billion to hospitals and physicians who demonstrate “meaningful use” of electronic health records.
Beginning in 2011, providers become eligible for receiving incentive payments under the Medicare or Medicaid program for those that can demonstrate Stage 1 “Meaningful Use” of a certified electronic health records system.
