Challenge 2.0 Builds on 2012 Year of Meaningful Use

At the HIMSS13 annual conference this year the  Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner and the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari, M.D., announced HHS’s plan to accelerate its 2013 Health IT adoption agenda. These plans included setting a goal of getting 50% of physicians using certified EHR technology and 80% of eligible hospitals receiving Meaningful Use incentive payments by year end. Yesterday, the ONC announced Challenge 2.0, asking states to set and meet aggressive goals for EHR adoption.  Challenge 2.0 will build on last year’s 2012 “Year of Meaningful Use.”

In the announcement published on ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog, John Rancourt writes

This year’s challenge builds off the success of the 2012 State Meaningful Use Challenge, which pitted every state and territory against one another to see which would best accelerate the Meaningful Use incentive program through providers’ electronic health record (EHR) adoption. Challenge 2.0 increases the number of performance measures by which ONC will judge state progress. As states continue their momentum in driving Meaningful Use, our Challenge 2.0 intends to encourage states to continue collaborating with their stakeholders and working strategically to leverage Meaningful Use criteria in support of quality improvement efforts, such Medicare’s Shared Savings Program and Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative.

Outlined in yesterday’s announcement are the Challenge 2.0  performance measures. The measures will look at cumulative results and percentage share for eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals (EHs) meeting meaningful use criteria and receiving  incentive payments. Challenge 2.0 will also take into consideration new eligible professionals and hospitals that are paid through the end of this year.

Challenge 2.0 updates on each state’s progress will be tracked on the ONC dashboard.  The ONC has also stated it will be working with states on an individual basis to support progress.

Read, follow and bookmark the ONC’s HealthIT Buzz blog for more information and details of the Challenge and continuing coverage as the states make progress through the end of the year.