ehr onc final certification - Department of Health Care Services

Comment. A commenter recommended that durable medical equipment and
supplies be added to the minimum list.
Response. In the context of the Meaningful Use Stage 1 objective and measure,
we do not believe that it is appropriate, at the present time, to add durable medical
equipment in the certification criterion. However, that does not preclude Complete EHRs
and EHR Modules from having that additional capability.
Comments. A few commenters requested clarification as to the underlying intent
of the certification criterion and whether it was intended that a patient be provided with a
complete medical record or simply a “snapshot.” Commenters also asked how
longitudinal the copy must be and requested that we specify a time period that the
electronic copy must cover. A commenter stated that eligible professionals should be
able to limit the applicable time period by episode of care or other parameters. The
commenter noted that state law also specifies the information that can be provided to a
patient without the provider serving as an intermediary. A few commenters requested
clarification that the medication list is limited to the current medication list. A
commenter recommended that the certification criterion be limited only to information
readily available to the provider at the conclusion of a patient encounter.
Response. We expect Certified EHR Technology to be capable of generating an
electronic copy of health information that includes the minimum elements required as a
condition of certification. We do not believe that it is appropriate to dictate the
timeframe such information must encompass, but we would expect that it would include,
at a minimum, the most current information that is available and accessible within the
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