AHRQ's new online tool helps track meaningful-use criteria

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has a nifty online tool to help leaders of hospitals and physician groups, and other eligible professionals keep track of the meaningful-use criteria they must meet to qualify for the upcoming Stage 2 of the electronic health-record incentive payment program.

For both hospitals and physicians and other eligible professionals, the site lists all the relevant core and menu objectives as well as the clinical quality measures that make up the Stage 2 criteria. It also enables a provider to select the objectives and clinical quality measures they intend to use and download copies of them and their descriptions in spreadsheet, PDF or XML formats.

For hospitals that have qualified for incentive payments for at least two payment years as Stage 1, the start date for Stage 2 is Oct. 1. For physicians and other eligible professionals, the start data for Stage 2 is Jan. 1, 2014. For both hospitals and eligible professionals, they will have an entire year to achieve at least 90 consecutive days of meeting the Stage 2 requirements.

The tool also has similar tracking and reporting functions for Stage 1 criteria.

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