eHealth in Public Health

How to Report to Public Health for Meaningful Use Objectives and Measures

The California Conference of Local Health Officers (CCLHO) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) have agreed that the local health departments are the initial points of contact to assist providers in meeting the public health meaningful use requirements to qualify for the Electronic Health Record Incentive Program.

The following links connect Eligible Professionals (EPs), Eligible Hospitals (EHs) and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) with frequently asked questions related to objectives and measures to meet the meaningful use requirements for immunization, lab and syndromic surveillance reporting:

CDPH continues to identify public health programs that are impacted by meaningful use requirements and to explore implications to improve public health efficiencies and outcomes. The following links provide information on measures that, while relevant to public health, do not involve public health reporting:

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Stage 2 Final Rules Released

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) have released Stage 2 Final Rules for meaningful use.  

A synopsis of some changes in the Stage 2 Finals Rules, which will impact CDPH and LHDs, include:

• Electronic reporting of immunizations, lab results and syndromic surveillance will be core objectives instead of menu objectives for EHs and CAHs.  Electronic reporting of immunizations will be a core objective instead of a menu objective for EPs.  This means that data must be reported or exclusion notices must be sent by the registry or the public health agency if they are not able to receive the data.
• Cancer reporting to a state cancer registry will be a menu objective for EPs.  The California Cancer Registry systems will be capable of uploading and processing all meaningful use Stage 2 document types related to cancer reporting by January 1, 2014.  This upgrade will meet or exceed the meaningful use Stage 2 reporting requirements.
• Reporting to a specialized registry (other than a cancer registry) will also be a menu objective for EPs.  Clarification as to how this objective applies in the context of public health reporting in California will be forthcoming. 

Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology (HIT)

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, or the "HITECH Act," provides authority to establish programs to improve health care quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care through the promotion and meaningful use of health information technology (HIT).  This includes qualified electronic health records (EHRs) and private and secure electronic health information exchange. 

Under the EHR Incentive Program, EPs, EHs and CAHs receive incentive payments when they have shown that they are able to implement certified EHR technology and have demonstrated “meaningful use” as defined by CMS in the following links:

ONC Standards and Certification

EHR technology adopted by EPs, EHs and CAHs must include the required standards, implementation specifications and certification criteria established by ONC to achieve meaningful use. The following links provide detailed information regarding the EHR technology standards that must be met:

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