On September 11, 2014, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published a final rule updating the 2014 Edition Electronic Health Records (EHR) certification criteria. The certification criteria are technical standards that EHR technology must meet in order for hospitals and health care professionals to achieve meaningful use of EHR (and receive incentive payments and avoid payment adjustments for doing so).
In February, ONC proposed a voluntary, 2015 Edition EHR criteria, which we described in an earlier post. After considering public comments, ONC decided not to adopt the 2015 Edition and instead adopt “a small subset” of its original proposal “as optional 2014 Edition EHR certification criteria.” The ONC calls these optional criteria the “2014 Edition Release 2 EHR certification criteria.”
The 2014 Edition Release 2 EHR certification criteria include 10 optional certification criteria. Although these criteria are voluntary, ONC “encourage[s]” EHR technology developers and EHR users “to consider whether the 2014 Edition Release 2 offers any opportunities that they might want to pursue.” The 10 new criteria are:
- three computerized provider order entry (CPOE) criteria to allow users to electronically record, change, and access medications, laboratory results, or diagnostic imaging
- a transition of care criterion
- three transport method criteria
- a “clinical information reconciliation and incorporation certification” criterion
- a “transmission to public health agencies-syndromic surveillance” criterion for technology that can “electronically create syndrome-based public health surveillance information for electronic transmission”
- the “automated numerator recording” criterion
ONC also made two revisions to the mandatory 2014 Edition EHR certification criteria to account for the addition of the new optional criteria:
- Revisions to the “view, download, and transmit to 3rd party” (VDT) criterion “that permit[] the same optionality provided in the new optional [transitions of care] certification criterion as it relates to transport methods.”
- Revisions to the “safety-enhanced design” criterion “that includes the optional CPOE certification criteria and the optional [clinical information reconciliation and incorporation] certification criterion.”