The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) set the bar lower and relaxed its meaningful use rule to encourage providers to adopt electronic health record systems, HHS officials announced Tuesday. The final regulation divides goals into two sets. Providers, who include eligible professionals, hospitals, and critical access hospitals, must meet a core set of 15 objectives. They must also choose five items à la carte from a menu of 10 objectives. The final rule represents a step back from a more demanding rule proposed in January which called for clinicians to meet 25 objectives and hospitals to meet 23 with no flexibility built in. FierceHealthcare