The US Department of Health and Human Services issued a release just before the new year regarding regulations governing the EHR incenvitves program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.   The proposed interim rules, headed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services(CMS) and The Office of National Coordinator for Health Informaiton Technology(ONC), outiline a definition of 'meaningful use' and the standards proposed to achieve this.   Professionals and hospitals looking to participate in the EHR incentive program would need to demonstrate 'meaningful use' in their technology and implementation, defined as improvements consistent with objectives set forth in the regulaiton.

The regulations include IHE immunization standards profiles in support of the objective to improve population and public health, co-authored by Software Partners:  Immunization Content (IC), PIX, PDQ, and Patient Demographics. These industry standards and specifications for EHR systems are part of many outilned to support a system's goal of demonstrating 'meaningful use,' and ultimately enhancing interoperabilty of healthcare informaiton technology.