BEING A MEANINGFUL USER OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
Electronic health records play a critical role in getting to a higher quality, safer, more effective health care system.
The release of the final rules on
meaningful use and
standards and certification mark the official launch of the EHR in this country. Health care providers now have additional funding to support the meaningful use of electronic health records as well as guidelines that can help them implement them in a way that improves care for their patients.
Benefits of Electronic Health Records
Electronic health records and health information exchange can help clinicians provide higher quality and safer care for their patients. By adopting electronic health records in a
meaningful way, clinicians can:
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Know more about their patients. Information in electronic health records can be used to coordinate and improve the quality of patient care.
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Make better decisions. With more comprehensive information readily and securely available, clinicians will have the information they need about treatments and conditions – even best practices for patient populations –when making treatment decisions.
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Save money. Electronic health records require an initial investment of time and money. But clinicians who have implemented them have reported reductions in the amount of time spent locating paper files, transcribing and spending time on the phone with labs or pharmacies; more accurate coding; and reductions in reporting burden.
MEDICARE AND MEDICAID EHR INCENTIVE PROGRAMS
Through the
Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is providing incentive payments to eligible health care professionals and hospitals who adopt certified EHR technology and achieve meaningful use.
Registration for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs began January 3, 2011.
Check out the resources below from CMS to learn more about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs:
ONC IS HERE TO HELP
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A national
paid media [PDF - 575 KB] campaign launched in medical journals in January.
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Standards and Certification Criteria offers guidance on standards to support interoperability of health information and the required capabilities and related standards and implementation specifications that certified EHR technology will need to include to, at a minimum, support the achievement of meaningful use and qualify for payments under the CMS Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.
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Regional Extension Centers (RECs), located in every region of the country, are offering technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of certified EHR technology.
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State Health Information Exchange Program and
Nationwide Health Information Network activities help provide tools, funding and support for building health information exchange capacity.
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Beacon Communities are helping ONC identify and share best practices for using electronic health records to achieve improvements in health and health care.
2011/01/10
