What is Meaningful Use?
The American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (ARRA), enacted on February 17, 2009, includes measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, One of the measures is the “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act”.
HITECH supports electronic health records – meaningful use [EHR-MU], an effort led by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS ) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).
HITECH proposes the meaningful use of EHRs throughout the United States healthcare industry as a critical national goal.
Meaningful Use is defined by
1. the use of certified EHR technology in a meaningful manner (for example electronic prescribing or e-prescribing);
2. ensuring that the certified EHR technology is connected in a manner that provides for the electronic exchange of health data to improve the quality of care;
3. and using certified EHR technology the provider must submit to the Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) data on quality of care and other measures.
Meaningful use is using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to:
A) improve quality, safety, efficiency in healthcare
B) reduce health disparities
C) engage patients and family
E) improve care coordination, and population and public health
F) maintain privacy and security of patient health information
Meaningful use compliance leads to:
A) improved clinical outcomes
B) improved population health outcomes
C) increased transparency and efficiency
D) empowered individuals
E) more robust research data on health systems
Meaningful use sets specific objectives that eligible professionals (EPs) and hospitals must achieve to qualify for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Incentive Programs.
Stages of Meaningful Use
These objectives evolved in three stages over five years:
2011-2012
Stage 1
Data capture and sharing
Electronically capturing health information in a standardized format
Using that information to track key clinical conditions
Communicating that information for care coordination processes
Initiating the reporting of clinical quality measures and public health information
Using information to engage patients and their families in their care
2014
Stage 2
Advance clinical processes
More rigorous health information exchange (HIE)
Increased requirements for e-prescribing and incorporating lab results
Electronic transmission of patient care summaries across multiple settings
More patient-controlled data
2016
Stage 3
Improved outcomes
Improving quality, safety, and efficiency, leading to improved health outcomes
Decision support for national high-priority conditions
Patient access to self-management tools
Access to comprehensive patient data through patient-centered HIE
Improving population health
National Meaningful Use Public Health Focused Forums
The following forums foster collaboration among public health jurisdictions, EHR vendors, national public health organizations, and other stakeholders to support the widespread adoption of EHRs for meaningful use and to improve population and public health. For more information on these initiatives and recurring webinars use the links provided.
Joint Public Health Forum and CDC Nationwide Webinar
For additional information check at Joint Public Health Forum & CDC Nationwide(https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/joint-public-health-forum–cdc-nationwide.html)
Public Health (PH) – Electronic Health Records (EHR) Vendors Collaboration Initiative
For additional information check at: (Public Health – EHR Vendors Collaboration Initiative (https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/public-health-ehr-vendors-collaboration-initiative.html).
Meaningful Use (MU) Public Health (PH) Reporting Requirements Task Force– Has completed work to develop consensus guidance around the process requirements for Modified Stage 2 (2015-2017), and Stage 3 Meaningful Use. PHAs preparing for MU will have access to guidance documents created by this collaborative Task Force to implement the processes, such as declaration of readiness, registration of intent, on-boarding/ongoing submission and acknowledgement processes. PHAs across the nation will be able to adopt this guidance according to their jurisdictional needs.
For information this task force and access to the guidance documents , please visit https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/meaningful-use-mu-public-health-ph-reporting-requirements-task-force.html.
Community of Practice (CoP) for Leveraging Federal Financial Participation (FFP) for Medicaid Health Information Technology (HIT) Activities
For additional information check at (Community of Practice (https://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/cop.html)
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