The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) enacted in February 2009 authorized the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid to pay physicians, who demonstrate the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR), an incentive of up to $44,000, from 2011. The physicians unable to conform to these date lines are expected to face reductions in their Medicare payments. Though there are concerns about the aggressiveness to adhere to these timelines, there is no doubt among clinicians that the implementation of this system will drastically transform the practice of medicine.
Meaningful use of electronic health record identifies a set of priorities centered on increased patient engagement; reduction of racial disparities; improvement of performance safety and efficiency of the care delivered; and the increase in overall population health. The timetables of meaningful use define a set of objectives and processes to ensure improvement of population health in the coming years.
The vision of meaningful use is to:
· Engage patients in a proactive way in healthcare.
· Provide real-time access for patient data and other medical information stored at one location to physicians and specialists on electronic data records.
· Eliminate long wait and health care disparities.
· Use new information technology for open communication and timely treatment.
· Use tools for the safety and quality of medical care.
Timetables of meaningful use are geared toward change in the health care system, both to reduce the cost and to provide comprehensive mode of treatment. It is expected that at the time of complete transformation of the present health care system, the following goals will be achieved:
§ Prevention of diseases avoiding unnecessary procedures and premature deaths.
§ Management of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, and heart diseases to deliver timely and more efficient treatment.
§ Minimize medication errors.
§ Measure health care efficiency using statistical and prediction tools.
Timetable And Stages Of Meaningful Use
The timeline for meaningful use is divided into three phases, starting from 2011. Phase one requires health care providers to collect data and integrate the same into an electronic format, which will be stored on one file and can be shared by multiple health care providers. Thus the updates as well past records of the patient, including list of allergies patient history, are all available together in one e-file and format. Other phase specifications require that the use of drug interaction should be available at the time it is prescribed. To complete this phase, clinicians will have to utilize the electronic prescribing and computerized physician order entry processes.
The second phase, beginning after 2011, requires sharing of the electronic data, including disease management criteria, automated lab reports, and other functionality with public health agencies, to better manage disease control and apply preventive measures, after identifying patient population with specific conditions.
The final phase of meaningful use focuses on the final goal of improving the quality and improving patient care by accessing real-time data at the time of prescribing medication and transmission of maximum prescriptions electronically as a way to avoid medication errors.
Federal funding may be encouraging a move toward EHR, but there’s more to it than just installing systems. How can healthcare data pooling lead to a better system? More at http://www.healthcaretownhall.com/?p=2193
Yes, Health Information Exchanges will be a large part of the ongoing digital clinical reformation. They really are essential to population management.