From the NPRM issued just before the holiday weekend:
After gathering input from stakeholders, we believe that requiring those who furnish CCM services to utilize electronic health record technology that has been certified by a certifying body authorized by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will ensure that practitioners have adequate capabilities to allow members of the interdisciplinary care team to have immediate access to the most updated information informing the care plan. Furthermore, we believe that requiring those that furnish CCM services to maintain and share an electronic care plan will alleviate the development of duplicative care plans or updates and the associated errors that can occur when care plans are not systematically reconciled. To ensure that practices offering CCM services meet these needs, we are proposing a new scope of service requirement for electronic care planning capabilities and electronic health records. Specifically, we are proposing that CCM services must be furnished with the use of an electronic health record or other health IT or health information exchange platform that includes an electronic care plan that is accessible to all providers within the practice, including being accessible to those who are furnishing care outside of normal business hours, and that is available to be shared electronically with care team members outside of the practice. To ensure all practices have adequate capabilities to meet electronic health record requirements, the practitioner must utilize EHR technology certified by a certifying body authorized by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to an edition of the electronic health record certification criteria identified in the then-applicable version of 45 CFR part 170. At a minimum, the practice must utilize EHR technology that meets the certification criteria adopted at 45 CFR 170.314(a)(3), 170.314(a)(4), 170.314(a)(5), 170.314(a)(6), 170.314(a)(7) and 170.314(e)(2) pertaining to the capture of demographics, problem lists, medications, and other key elements related to the ultimate creation of an electronic summary care record. For example, practitioners furnishing CCM services beginning in CY 2015 would be required to utilize an electronic health record certified to at least those 2014 Edition certification criteria. Given these certification criteria, EHR technology would be certified to capture data and ultimately produce summary records according to the HL7 Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture standard (see 45 CFR 170.205(a)(3)). When any of the CCM scope of service requirements include a reference to a health or medical record, a system meeting these requirements is required.
