Exchange of Clinical Information for Meaningful Use

Last month I posted on the confusion around the meaningful use Core Measure that requires the “capability to exchange key clinical information”.

At that time there was still uncertainty as to exactly what was meant by the term “electronically exchange”. Transport standards were never defined and the certification of this module by ONC-ATCBs involved various forms of transmission. I’m glad to say this matter has finally been laid to rest.

On June 21st CMS published clarification on this issue with the statement:

“an eligible professional, eligible hospital, or critical access hospital may use any means of electronic transmission according to any transport standard(s) (SMTP, FTP, REST, SOAP, etc.) regardless of whether it was included by an EHR technology developer as part of the certified EHR technology in the eligible professional’s, eligible hospital’s, or critical access hospital’s possession.”

So there you have it. Various forms of transport, including secure email, are acceptable.

Jim Tate is author of The Incentive Roadmap® The Meaningful Use of Certified Technology: Stage 1. Version 3.0 now available for purchase.

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