All About Meaningful Use
Meaningful Use - Term used to describe the definitions put in place by the Government with which an EMR must comply. Only the first phase has been tentatively defined at this point and goes into effect October 1, 2010. Even Phase 1 definitions are not yet firm. The remaining 2 phases are not expected to be presented until 2013 and 2015.
ARRA (Stimulus) - The Recovery Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. $19 Billion is set aside to accelerate the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR) and health information technology in doctors’ offices.
Prior to Registration: Review the Information
See: Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Registration and Attestation System.
Also refer to: Registration.
View the Video
This is a short video to cover the basics.
Note: This video was commissioned by CMS, not SOAPware.
View the video here.
Learn more about the Stimulus HITECH Act
On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act...
The health IT component of the Bill is the HITECH Act, which appropriates a net $19.5 billion dollars which was made to encourage healthcare organizations to buy Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and establish the ability to safely exchange health care information at a regional level!
The opportunity presented by the Bill is enormous. The Congressional Budget Office predicted when reviewing the legislation that 90% of physicians and 70% of hospitals will be using an EMR over the next few years. As a result, the country will save billions of dollars on the provision of healthcare, and our citizens will receive
coordinated, informed care from their entire network of providers.
Incentive Payments to Physicians and Hospitals
The government has two primary goals:
• Moving physicians who have been slow to adopt Electronic Medical Records to a computerized environment
• Making patient data actively and securely exchangeable between healthcare professionals.
Therefore, the vast majority of the funds within the HITECH Act are assigned to payments that will reward physicians and hospitals for effectively using an EMR system. There is a program designed for those that see large volumes of Medicaid patients, and another for those that accept Medicare,
To Qualify For The Incentives
Both physicians and hospitals have to demonstrate three things:
• A total of 90 consecutive Days of use of a certified EMR product with ePrescribing capability that meets current HHS standards.
• Ability for other providers to access the full view of a patient's health history.
• Ability to report on their use of the technology to HHS.
All of the incentives include payments for up to six years but provide the largest payments early in the program.
"Those that cannot demonstrate Meaningful Use of an EMR under the Medicare component of the program will eventually be penalized through lower payments. "
The incentive payments begin in 2011 to ensure the providers have time to adopt and learn to use the EHR; penalties begin in 2015.Graph
For more information view the following links:
Standards and Certification Info from HIT
**Credit should be given to SOAPware for the information provided on this website containing to Meaningful Use.
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