Meaningful Use of EHR

Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a comprehensive and computerized healthcare record management system. The main objective of Electronic Health Record (EHR) software is to electronically collect health information, as all information is recorded digitally. Electronic Health Record (EHR) include various types of information such as demographics of a particular area, medical history of patients, lab test results, patients statistics like weight, age, medical record, insurance details etc.

The Medicare and Medicaid EHR provide incentive payments to professionals to implement, upgrade and demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology. Meaningful Use is the term to describe the specific set of benchmarks that an eligible provider or hospital needs to meet to be able to qualify for the incentive program. Meaningful Use is a multi-year, staged approach that outlines specific requirements and threshold which will raise the bar over time.

Meaningful Use is measured in stages and each stage represents a level of adoption.There are two main components to receiving incentives:

• Using a certified EHR
• Demonstrating meaningful use of EHR

Over the course of the next five years (2011-2015) the criteria for meaningful use will be divided into three stages:

Stage 1 (Years 2011-2012)

Stage 2 (2013-2014 tentatively)

Stage 3 (2015 tentatively)

The criteria will grow more severe in the later stages.

Here is a summary of the three meaningful use stages: 

·         Stage One: 

      The first stage is simply a question of quantity; the CMS wants doctors and hospitals to report how often the EHRs are being utilized, in terms of a percentage of patients.

·         Stage Two: 

      The second stage requires doctors to begin using the data contained in the EHRs when they diagnose and treat patients.

·         Stage Three: 

      The most important stage is the third, in which the CMS expects to give patients tools for self-management, and get caregivers to use the EHRs to identify when trends become national concerns, and improve overall population health.

There is no doubt that the Meaningful Use program has energized the health care industry, hopefully this energy will result in the innovation necessary to improve our healthcare delivery system.