Meaningful Use timeline from 2010 to 2021 Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) To ease eligible professionals and hospitals into the final stage of meaningful use, CMS developed a modified form of Stage 2 which established a transition period between 2015 and 2017.

The list of criteria and regulations was established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) in July 2010. Consisting of 25 total criteria, the list for meaningful use stage 1 is broken into 15 core requirements and 10 menu requirements.

Meaningful use stage 3 is the third phase of the meaningful use EHR incentive program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) published the final rule on meaningful use stage 3 on October 6, 2015.

Meaningful use was created by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which allocated almost $800 billion to create jobs in the United States. The original purpose of ARRA was not focused on physician efficiency or patient service, but on helping the economy recover.

The proposed meaningful use Stage 3 rule issued on 03/30/15 by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) attempts to streamline standards and offer providers more flexibility concerning regulatory compliance. With the impending implementation of Stage 3 what can providers expect concerning changes from Stage 2 regulations and timeline.

The final rule combined aspects of Stage 1 and Stage 2 to allow providers to meet a single set of meaningful use requirements for up to three years rather than attest to two separate stages.

In 2011, CMS established the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs (now known as the Promoting Interoperability Programs) to encourage eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, and CAHs to adopt, implement, upgrade, and demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT).