“Meaningful Use” is the type of use that eligible hospitals and eligible professionals must make of a certified electronic health record in order to qualify for Medicare incentive dollars under the HITECH Act.
UPDATE: Watch the LIVE webcast here.
According to HealthcareIT News, federal officials have announced that, on Tuesday morning, July 13, 2010, at 10:00 am EST, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) will release the final rule on making a “meaningful use” of electronic health records under the HITECH Act.
On January 19, 2010, the Greater Louisville Health Enterprises Network together with Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Bluegrass Chapter, will present a panel presentation with discussions surrounding the next steps under the Health Information Technology for Clinical and Economic Health Act (HITECH), part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
Expert panelists include:
Moderated by Greg Aaron, Past Chapter President Bluegrass HIMSS and Board Member, Health Enterprises Network
Time & Location:
Registration Information: $35 members; Tables available $245
To learn more about the Health Enterprises Network, click here.
By 2014, hospitals and physicians whom Medicare reimburses for services and items will need to have adopted an electronic health record (EHR) according to rules promulgated under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) or risk reductions in their Medicare reimbursement. On December 30, 2009, the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), released their respective proposed rules for qualifying for EHR stimulus funds under HITECH: The “meaningful use” and “certified” EHR standards.
The Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and its HIT Policy Committee worked hard throughout the summer to develop a framework for the “meaningful use” standards required to qualify for electronic health record (EHR) adoption stimulus funds available under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). When I saw the survey that HIMSS released today regarding the use of social networking tools to communicate with patients, it reminded me of the “meaningful use” standard that centers on “engaging patients and families.” The stated goal of this standard is to “Provide patients and families with timely access to data, knowledge, and tools to make informed decisions and to manage their health.” Although it’s doubtful today that social networking tools would be accepted as meeting this goal for purposes of the EHR stimulus funds, it did get me to thinking about the use of technology to literally communicate with patients and, in particular, the studies that have been done in regard to using technology, such as e-mail and texting, to communicate with patients.
On Thursday, July 16, 2009, the HIT Policy Committee presented its revised recommendation on the “meaningful use” definition. At the end of this meeting, the HIT Policy Committee forwarded its recommendation on the “meaningful use” definition to the Office of National Coordinator per the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH Act”). The revised meaningful use matrix, 2011 Draft Quality Measures and other materials presented or discussed during the MU meeting on July 16, 2009 are available on the HIT Policy Committee webpage.
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