Common Acronyms for HITECH Certification and Meaningful Use (MU)

While reading through all of the HITECH Certification and Meaningful Use (MU) articles, procedures, laws, etc., one difficulty I've found in fully understanding the documentation is due to the number of acronyms used by the writers. So, I thought it might be helpful to get a list of the most common acronyms and not only define what they stand for, but write a short piece on each to give people an idea about how each fits into certification and meaningful use (MU).

 

Here's my list:

• HITECH - Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act
• ARRA - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
• NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology
• ONC - Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
• CMS - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• EHR - Electronic Health Record
• EP - Eligible Professional
• CAH - Critical Access Hospital
• PQRI - Physician Quality Reporting Initiative
• A/I/U - Adopt, Implement, or Upgrade
• CCN - CMS Certification Number
• CQM - Clinical Quality Measure
• HIT - Health Information Technology

Over the next week or so I will post the definitions of these acronyms - tune back in to read more about these important certification and MU concepts.

 

If there is an acronym that I left off that you think should be included in the list, post a comment and I will research it for you!