CMS Delays Stage 2 Meaningful Use Deadline

On December 6, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released a joint statement proposing an extension of the deadline for participating providers to demonstrate successful implementation of Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements. Stage 2 would extend through 2016, one year beyond the current deadline; Stage 3 would begin in 2017 for participants who completed at least two years at Stage 2. CMS and ONC offered two reasons for the proposed extension: (1) to permit time to focus on implementation of the enhanced patient engagement, interoperability and health information exchange requirements in Stage 2; and (2) to use data from Stage 2  to inform policy for Stage 3. Read the press release and learn more about this new development here.