This post was written by Jacqueline B. Penrod. On July 28, 2010, CMS published a final rule to implement the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that provide incentive payments to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs that adopt and successfully demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology. The final rule specifies (i) the initial criteria that these professionals must meet in order to qualify for an incentive payment; (ii) the calculation of incentive payment amounts; and (iii) payment adjustments under Medicare for eligible hospitals and CAHs that fail to demonstrate meaningful use of EHR technology, along with other program participation requirements. Compared to the proposed meaningful use criteria rule issued January 13, 2010, the final rule provides increased flexibility in meeting the meaningful use criteria, modifies the definition of “hospital based” eligible professionals to conform with statutory changes, and changes the status of CAHs for purposes of the Medicaid incentive program. Comments on the final rule must be submitted by September 27, 2010. HHS also published a final rule July 28, 2010 completing the adoption of an initial set of HIT standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria in conjunction with final meaningful use Stage 1 objectives and measures. The Office of the National Coordinator for HIT has made several revisions to support the final meaningful use objectives and measures, and to clarify certification criteria to resolve certain technical challenges that were identified relating to certain standards outlined in the proposed rule. Comments on this rule are due August 27, 2010.