During a CMS Town Hall on Tuesday, Robert Tagalicod wanted to make sure that everyone understood the transformative nature of what promises to be an intense 2014.  

"This year will be a very busy year for eHealth," said Tagalicod, director of the Office of E-Health Standards and Services at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

To prove his point, he rattled off a list of momentous dates – on the off chance anyone may have forgotten them.

First off, 2014 marks the start of Stage 2 meaningful use attestation. "This is the year," Tagalicod said.

And, the calendar is flipping fast toward the ICD-10 deadline. "This is the year," he said again. "And just to reiterate: The Oct. 1, 2014, deadline is a firm one. And you can quote me."

It may be scary, he said, but it's well worthwhile. ICD-10 will be the "foundation for greater interoperability and ease of transmitting electronic data, better quality measurement and reporting of clinical outcomes data, and lower costs and operational efficiencies and administrative simplification," Tagalicod said.

This is also the year where Stage 3 meaningful use comes into closer focus, with different notices for proposed rule-makings expected from CMS and ONC in the second half of 2014.

"We expect in the fall that CMS will release an NPRM for Stage 3," said Tagalicod, with "an accompanying ONC NPRM for the 2017 standards and certification criteria." 

This year also marks the launch of CMS' E-Health University – right here at HIMSS14. It's the fruition of plans announced in New Orleans at HIMSS13.

The tool is meant to provide critical information for everything from the incentive program to quality measurement to administrative simplification, for providers at all stages of the journey, said Tagalicod. 

It serves a "need for resources wherever you are with your initiatives," he said, "tailored to participants at every experience level."

This is also the year where CMS has eased its MU reporting deadline – a little – for hospitals and eligible professionals.

Earlier this month, the agency announced it would stretch the deadline for 2013 attestations from Feb. 28 to March 31. Noting "extraordinary interest" from providers participating in EHR incentive programs, CMS extended the attestation date for practices, allowed hospitals that had missed their reporting deadline to submit retroactively.

"This year we had such an overwhelming participation rate that we decided we wanted to make sure that every hospital and EP that wanted to attest for 2013 had an opportunity to do so, so we extended the reporting deadline to March 31," said Elizabeth Holland, director of the health IT initiatives group at the Office of E-Health Standards and Services.

Holland offered a piece of friendly advice, however.

"I recommend that you do not wait," she said. "If your reporting period was over in 2013, you should attest now. We've had as many as 7,000 people attest in one day. Do not – do not – wait until March 31."