The ABC's of Meeting Meaningful Use

If you've looked into implementing an electronic health record, or E-H-R system, you're probably familiar with the term "Meaningful Use." But do you really know what it means, or more importantly, the benefits it may provide you in the short and long term?

Well, Meaningful Use is an incentive program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that provides financial incentives to eligible professionals and hospitals who are successful in becoming "meaningful users" of certified EHR technology.

Certification assures healthcare providers that the EHR technology they adopt includes the capabilities they'll need to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs. This can mean thousands of subsidy dollars for your office or facility.

Most experts agree that electronic health records will be the foundational architecture for a new healthcare system.

We caught up with Justin Barnes, chairman of the Electronic Health Records Association, who said that "Meaningful Use" is really about understanding and utilizing data in new and more productive ways.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• meaningful use
• electronic health records
• medical records
• justin barnes
• greenway medical
• EHR
• technology
• intel