The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Final Rule on July 28, 2009.  A PDF version of the Federal Register is available from Health Monitoring Systems website. –kjh

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have posted materials for states giving direction regarding what is necessary for meaningful use.  This information is not specific to public health, but it provides insight into the overall requirements.  Here is an article from their website that gives an introduction. — kjh

States may voluntarily offer the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program to their Medicaid eligible professionals and eligible hospitals. This page provides resources for states to understand the program and learn more about what is required to offer the programs.

Health IT Documents

To qualify to receive 90% federal matching funds for administering the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, states must develop:

• Health Information Technology Planning Advance Planning Document (HIT PAPD) – A plan of action that requests federal matching funds and approval to accomplish the planning necessary for a state agency to determine the need for and plan the acquisition of HIT equipment, services, or both.
• State Medicaid Health Information Technology Plan (SMHP) – A document that describes the state’s current and future Health IT activities, as well as the path between, in support of the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program (see the SMHP template in the “Downloads” section below).
• Health Information Technology Implementation Advance Planning Document (HIT IAPD) – A plan of action that requests federal matching funds and approval to acquire and implement the proposed SMHP services, equipment, or both.

The HIT PAPD, SMHP, and HIT IAPD lay out the process states will use to implement and oversee the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. These documents help states construct a Health IT roadmap to develop the systems necessary to support providers in their adoption and meaningful use of certified EHR technology.

• States are required to submit these documents in order for CMS to approve receipt of the 90% Federal match.
• Prior approval is required for the HIT PAPD and HIT IAPD. The SMHP is the deliverable resulting from the HIT PAPD. The SMHP will be reviewed and approved before implementation funds are authorized under the IAPD. The APD and SMHP processes allow states to update their Advance Planning Documents and SMHP when they anticipate changes in scope, cost, schedule, etc. This allows states to add additional tasks to the contract which they may have not thought of at the time the HIT PAPD was written, as they worked through the original tasks on the original submission.

As states begin developing their SMHPs, they can also begin receiving the 90% federal matching funds to be used to support their initial Medicaid EHR Incentive Program planning activities, as long as the relevant Advance Planning Documents are approved. For example, initial planning regarding the design and development of the anticipated SMHP may be eligible for the 90% federal matching funds as an expense related to the administration of the Medicaid EHR incentive payments and, more broadly, for promoting health information exchange.  Read more here…