Eligible Hospitals: Stage 1 Meaningful Use Overview

To achieve Stage 1 Meaningful Use, eligible hospitals (EHs) must successfully attest to meaningful use measures as well as the calculation of patient-related data.

The criteria for Stage 1 Meaningful Use are described in three parts: core measures, menu measures, and clinical quality measures. This attestation worksheet provides an excellent walk-through of the measures listed below, and CMS' Meaningful Use Calculator is a great resource for those hospitals further in the planning process for attestation. (Although the worksheet is labeled for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, the measures are the same between Medicare and Medicaid; additionally, the majority of hospitals are dually-eligible and will earn incentives from both programs.)

Stage 1 Meaningful Use Criteria for Eligible Hospitals

Core Measures

EHs must attest to each one of the 12 core measures, though exclusions can be claimed on certain measures.

• Click to Expand the List of Core Objectives for EH

  1. Use CPOE for medication orders directly entered by any licensed healthcare professional who can enter orders into the medical record per State, local, and professional guidelines.
  2. Implement drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks.
  3. Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses.
  4. Maintain active medication list.
  5. Maintain active medication allergy list.
  6. Record all of the following demographics:
     
     1. Preferred language.
     2. Gender.
     3. Race.
     4. Ethnicity.
     5. Date of birth.
     6. Date and preliminary cause of death in the event of mortality in the eligible hospital or CAH.
  7. Record and chart changes in the following vital signs:
     1. Height.
     2. Weight.
     3. Blood pressure.
     4. Calculate and display body mass index (BMI).
     5. Plot and display growth charts for children 2–20 years, including BMI.
  8. Record smoking for patients 13 years old or older.
  9. Implement one clinical decision support rule related to a high priority hospital condition along with the ability to track compliance with that rule.
  10. Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information (including diagnostic test results, problem list, medication lists, medication allergies, discharge summary, procedures), upon request.
  11. Provide patients with an electronic copy of their discharge instructions at time of discharge, upon request.
  12. Protect electronic health information created or maintained by the certified EHR technology through the implementation of appropriate technical capabilities.

Menu Measures

EHs must choose five of the ten menu measures, including one of the three public health measures.

• Click to Expand the List of Menu Objectives for EH

  1. Implement drug formulary checks.
  2. Record advance directives for patient 65 years old or older.
  3. Incorporate clinical lab-test results into EHR as structured data.
  4. Generate lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research, or outreach.
  5. Use certified EHR technology to identify patient-specific education resources and provide those resources to the patient if appropriate.
  6. The eligible hospital or CAH who receives a patient from another setting of care or provider of care or believes an encounter is relevant should perform medication reconciliation.
  7. The eligible hospital or CAH that transitions their patient to another setting of care or provider of care or refers their patient to another provider of care should provide summary care record for each transition of care or referral.
  8. Capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries or immunization information systems and actual submission according to applicable law and practice.
  9. Capability to submit electronic data on reportable (as required by State or local law) lab results to public health agencies and actual submission according to applicable law and practice.
  10. Capability to submit electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies and actual submission according to applicable law and practice.

Clinical Quality Measures

EHs must attest to the 15 clinical quality measures. Please refer to 2011/2012 Eligible Hospital and CAH Reporting Measures Table [PDF 250KB] from CMS website for a complete list of Clinical Quality Measures for EH.