By: Mary Ann Ciccone

As part of ARRA, Medicare and Medicaid will provide reimbursement incentives to physicians and hospitals who become “meaningful users” of EMR. This effort will begin in 2011 and end by 2015 at which time all providers will be expected to utilize EMR. Changes will be implemented in stages and include data sharing, compliance with HIPPA and state laws, evidence based order sets, the engagement of patients and families, and care coordination. The final draft recommendations that will define meaningful use were published by the ONC for Health IT in December 2009. Eligible facilities and providers can incorporate these guidelines into projects currently in progress to meet the requirements.  

The result of following the meaningful use guidelines for all stages will be improved and more efficient patient care through the use of disease prevention and reduction of medication errors, greater communication between providers, efficiency in meeting reporting mandates and claims submissions, and lower healthcare costs.

 The recommendations for Stage 1 are listed below.

Source: HHS website for meaningful use.

Just in case you haven’t been able to find it one of the other dozens of sites publishing the link here is the HITECH: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for EHR Technology and here’s how you get paid (warning 556 pages).

Mr. HISTalk summarized the finer or most relevant points here. And over at HealthcareITNews.com “Stakeholders have mixed reviews on proposed requirements” while Government HealthIT profiles groups that aren’t happy with the definition.  

We all knew it’d be a mixed bag right? What do you think of the proposal? Have you (are you) going to read it or will you just look for an effective summary? Let us know what your thoughts and questions are in the comment section.

By: Bruce Cerullo, CEO

As the dutiful son of a proud, reasonably healthy, but aging 83 year old, I have had the pleasure of accompanying my Dad on many doctors’ visits. Yesterday, we visited an orthopedic surgeon's office. In the exam room with him I witnessed “CPOE” in action – Yikes!

First the set up: the doctor is a young, highly regarded surgeon at a top ranked practice affiliated with a leading Boston hospital. His practice has very recently deployed eClinincalWorks, which seamlessly interfaces Mckesson’s RIS System. Before the doctor came into the room, his Medical Assistant brought my father’s EMR up on the screen and loaded his CT Scan disc onto the desktop … everything was teed up for the doctor.

When the doctor entered the room, he consulted the main screen for an overview of my father’s record and began an examination of my Dad’s foot – so far so good – but then, the physician’s “meaningful use” began to deteriorate quickly.  As he returned to the computer to review past records, he had severe difficulty navigating the file and could not advance the images on the CT scan. Frustrated, he left the room and asked his assistant to “fix it.”  She sheepishly took stock of the situation, hit the escape key a couple of times,  and pronounced it "fixed." She then served as his computer navigator; a role that included entering his notes and orders for him! 

After the doctor left the room (under my gentle questioning) she admitted that a number of the doctors in the practice had been “too busy” to attend formal training and were doing their best to learn the application on-the-fly. The moral of this story: effective technology tools and their role in minimizing the inefficiencies of our healthcare system will only have a real impact if the clinicians truly embrace the change.  I know you all already know this … I just feel better having stated the obvious!

Have you had a similar experience?