Reaching Interoperability Nirvana

Earlier this year, CMS granted an extension to Meaningful Use Stage 2. The extension allows users an extra year to use a MU1 Certified EHR and still meet the requirements in 2014. What’s more – it provides the healthcare industry with an opportunity to “step up” and refocus on what providers really want from vendor systems. HIT vendors need to take the additional time to achieve interoperability to enable healthcare organizations to seamlessly share patient information. As Meaningful Use Stage 2 places a premium on making health information systems play nice with one another, separating the incentive program and interoperability conversations isn't an option. By Tom Bizzaro, RPh, VP of health policy and industry relations at FDB