The ONC may be preparing to release to the public details about Stage 2 of the meaningful use incentive program, as the agency recently completed a key review phase.

Health Data Management reports that ONC officials recently brought before the Office of Management and Budget a set of proposed rules for a review. This is one of the agencies through which any new regulations must pass. It is often the last board to review new rules before the proposed regulations are made available to the public.

The news source points out that this would jibe with previous indicators of when Stage 2 meaningful use rules would be released. ONC officials have previously said that they are planning on making the new regulations available to the public some time in January or February.

The sooner the rules are released to the public, the sooner physicians, EHR vendors and other stakeholders can begin working toward implementation. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services expects the Stage 2 meaningful use rules to go into effect at some point in 2013.