American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)

Frequently Asked Questions

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How do I qualify for the stimulus money?

• Eligible providers must demonstrate "meaningful use" of a certified EHR.

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What is an eligible provider?

• This is defined by the Social Security Act of 1932 - Definition of "Physician" (section r). Because each state licensing board can impact the definition of a "Physician", it is recommended that each provider determine if they are eligible based on the law. For help, visit the CMS website.

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What is "meaningful use"?

• A set of criteria that was defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which defines how a physician must use a certified EHR.

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When will "meaningful use" be fully defined?

• Stage 1 of Meaningful Use was finalized by the Secretary of Health and Human Services on July 13, 2010.


• Stage 2 and 3 standards will continue changing.

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How do I "demonstrate" meaningful use?

• Through a combination of reporting the required quality measures to CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and self-attestation. Compliance auditing will likely be complaint-driven as it was with HIPAA.

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What does "certified" mean?

• HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has defined a certification process for certifying and testing bodies. To become certified, an EHR vendor must apply to an ONC-ATCB (Authorized Testing and Certification Body) and pass the required testing scripts.

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So I can use modules from several different vendors?

• Yes, as long as they create a complete system that allows for demonstration of meaningful use. (i.e. Centricity PM and ChartLogic EMR)

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What about CCHIT?

• CCHIT (the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology) has applied to be one of the ONC-ATCBs. They will provide 2 main certifications: HHS certification (overseen by ONC/NIST) and CCHIT certification (which presumably will be HHS+)


• CCHIT (not government recognized or backed) is still certifying against their own certification requirements. The CCHIT 2011 certification program includes CCHIT's interpretation of the draft requirements. They will likely update this program to meet the final ruling requirements.

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If I have a CCHIT Certified EHR, does that mean it is HHS Certified?

• No. CCHIT will release a 2011 certification that will meet and/or exceed HHS 2011 standards. No current version of CCHIT Certification meets these standards.


• CCHIT has begun certifying vendors such as ChartLogic under the presumption that the standards will not increase in complexity. This is called Preliminary ARRA Certification, but it is not government approved, and will be subject to recertification once CCHIT becomes an ONC-ATCB.

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Is ChartLogic EMR HHS Certified?

• No. No vendor has a Certified product today and none will be certified until late summer 2010, at the earliest. ONC has indicated that they will likely have multiple ONC-ATCBs by end of summer, and EHR vendors will be able to apply for certification soon after.

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Does the current version of ChartLogic EMR meet all criteria in the currently published meaningful use matrix?

• Yes. The ChartLogic EHR Solution, which includes several modules including EMR, PM, and ePrescribe has been reviewed against the Final Ruling released by Secretary Sebelius on July 13, 2010. When used appropriately, with all the required modules, a user of ChartLogic can be a meaningful user. ChartLogic meets all "core" and "menu set" criteria.

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Will ChartLogic EMR be HHS Certified?

• Yes. Obviously this is a forward-looking statement, but ChartLogic EMR users will be able to upgrade to the certified product, with the appropriate certified modules.

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When?

• Upgrades will likely occur in Early Fall 2010 due to timeframes from HHS.

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Will I have to pay for the ChartLogic EMR upgrade?

• ChartLogic EMR users who maintain an active warranty (support and upgrades) agreement will not be charged additional fees to upgrade. The appropriate modules will be required.

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