I have been trying to write this article since October when the guidance was first issued but as you can see it has been a tad difficult based on all the activity and the Risk Assessments we have been completing.  Of course the fact that we are doing a major update to our compliance software has also taken a major chunk of my time but I expect the results to be of benefit to all of us. Anyway, it seems that all the efforts placed into changing CMS Meaningful Use programs were not wasted and as a result we have a compromise from CMS which I think may be workable in our end.  The key changes were as follows: 1. Reporting period will be 90 days regardless of what stage you are. 2. Welcome to stage 2.  Regardless of what stage you were in now all Providers are in stage 2. However, those that were n stage 1 are in a “modified” stage 2 which means stage 1 requirements. 3. Core and menu measure are gone.  There are only 10 objectives with one or more measure per objective. 4. Patient engagement, an almost impossible measure to meet has been reduced as follows:

• View, Download and transmit has been changed from 5% of patients seen during the reporting period to only to one patient;
• Secure messaging has been changed from 5% of patients during the reporting period to “capability for patients to send and receive a secure electronic message with the EP was fully enabled during the EHR reporting period.”

5. Date entry requirements have been removed.  Read and smile as this change will make all of our lives easier.  We will no longer have to track:

• Record Demographics,
• Record Vital Signs,
• Record Smoking Status,
• Clinical Summaries,
• Structured Lab Results,
• Patient List,
• Patient Reminders,
• Summary of Care (please check CMS web site for details)

6. Stage 3 will now be optional in 2017 I personally called CMS to check on the status of the changes and was informed that no one will be allowed to complete attestation until at least January 4, 2016 as they have to incorporate these changes within their own systems.  I actually foresee many programmers working on the same as all certified EHRs will now have to work on changing their meaningful use tools, reports and dashboards.  I also called the Florida Department of Health and basically received the same information.  A simple table from the CMS web site with a basic summary follows:

So for now, rejoice and Christmas came early for some of us.