CMS Rebrands Meaningful Use to Highlight New Changes

As part of the annual Medicare payment update proposal, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid along with the Trump Administration plan to rebrand Meaningful Use to reduce burdens and unnecessary regulations while emphasizing data sharing across providers.

The new Meaningful Use program, now called “Promoting Interoperability,” aims to reduce reporting measures and initiate a stronger push for price transparency among hospitals.

CMS announced the change as part of a proposed rule issued on April 24 that will transform the EHR Incentive Programs, as well as introduce changes to Medicare payment policy rates under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System (PPS).

“We seek to ensure the health care system puts patients first,” said Administrator Seema Verma. “Today’s proposed rule demonstrates our commitment to patient access to high-quality care while removing outdated and redundant regulations on providers.”

The new program doesn’t do away with all current meaningful use requirements, including that providers use the 2015 edition of certified electronic health record technology in 2019. The 2015 edition of technology aligns with the provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act that calls for using open application programming interfaces in EHRs.

Using those APIs, developers could allow patients to collect all their health data in one place. This is similar to what Apple is already doing with its Health app. Starting this spring, the app will let patients of certain health systems download their health records from patient portals and store the information on their iPhones.

This kind of data-sharing between the patient and provider could ultimately cut duplicative testing and improve the continuity of care, according to the CMS.