Recent reports have suggested that the Department of Health and Human Services may be getting set to release the second round of meaningful use rules. With the proposal in the offing, all stakeholders are eager to know what will be included.

Based on previous statements from ONC officials and others, it may be possible to build a picture of what the new rules could look like. Fierce EMR recently reported that past statements from rulemakers may suggest that the new regulations will mandate greater amounts of information exchange.

Furthermore, physicians can expect to supply greater amounts of data to government agencies to prove that they are using their EHR system in a meaningful way. As the news source reports, ONC officials have suggested that Stage 2 meaningful use will force physicians to move past attestation to actual data reporting.

While it may not be clear exactly what will be included in the new rules, physicians may not have to wait that long to find out. ONC officials have previously stated that the new meaningful use rules would come out some time in February. Furthermore, the Department of Health and Human Services recently sent a set of proposed regulations to the Office of Management and Budget, which often gets the last review of new rules before they are made public.