My hospital has an interface with a third party clinic vendor where orders are sent to the hospital and the results are returned to the physician’s clinic. We plan to use this for the ‘Incorporate Clinical Lab Tests’ objective. Does the physician in the clinic have to sign the orders in Thrive for these orders to meet Meaningful Use requirements and/or legal signature requirements on orders?

MU-EH-Stage 2-Interfaces
MU-EP-Stage 2-Interfaces

No, the Meaningful Use criteria surrounding this objective do not specify inclusion of the physician signature in the order message. Additionally, 42 CFR 410 indicates documentation by the treating physician (i.e.: in the summary of care/progress note) that he/she intended for the test to be performed will satisfy the authorization requirement without the need for the signature of the ordering physician. The industry standard on electronic orders is to include the ordering physician in the HL7 transaction as acceptable authorization for the test to be performed.