Health Information Technology For Economic And Clinical Health

Some alcohol and drug abuse records were inadvertently left accessible via the internet. Fifty patients were affected.

The goal of this act was to create financial incentives for industry to follow the HIPAA rules and utilize electronic health records. One important aspect of this act is the idea of meaningful use. Meaningful use is the use of electronic health record technology that has been certified and helps to improve services and privacy of information within an organization. The benefits of this include better health outcomes for the population, increased efficiency for standard processes, and an increase of data for research on health systems. For example HITECH has established an incentive program for Medicare and Medicaid electronic heath information [7].

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 or HITECH was designed to encourage the use of electronic health records or EHRs. If a website shows that the facility abides

A: The term Meaningful use is using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to maintain privacy and secure patient health information, by improving care coordination, population, and public health, help patients and family to be engaged in

Meaningful Use engages patients and families in their health care, improve care coordination, improve population and public health and maintain privacy and security ("CMS," 2015, para. 1). Healthcare providers must show CMS that they are using their EHRs in ways that can positively affect the care of their patients. To do this, providers must meet all of the requirements established by CMS for this program and be able to demonstrate Meaningful Use of their EHRs to receive incentive reimbursement. The Meaningful Use program is divided into 3 stages which span 2011 (data capture and sharing), 2013 (advanced clinical processes) and 2015 (improved outcomes).

Meaningful use is used in the EHR system, and it is used to improve quality and safety of healthcare. It improves privacy and can benefit health care management care. The facility that I work at is in the first stage of even getting an EHR system they do not receive any incentive’s, because it is a long-term care faculty. If I was working in a hospital and they wanted to have a meaningful use, they would need 14 core objectives, 5/10 from a set menu of objectives and 15 quality measures.(HEALTHIT.GOV

The EHR/EMR was mandated in 2009 it was a provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, they are encouraging the providers to start using the EHR. A of January 1, 2014 all public and private healthcare groups must have adopted and be demonstrating a meaningful use of the EHR so that they can collect the reimbursement from Medicaid and Medicare. The EHR/EMR have to be in facility in working order at the beginning of 2015. The definition of meaningful users to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities. There is 3 stages of meaningful use, to meet the first deadline of stage one is October 2012. Stage two and three go over the health information that you exchange with the providers, in these stages you will

As a medical assistant, meaningful use should help to make our lives easier. Gone are the days of looking for one lab report in a length medical record. Records can be access as quickly as clicking on a particular tab and this cuts our chart preparation time as well as minimizes that amount of time we spend documenting for a patient.

In addition to the core elements, providers will have to choose any five of the ten additional tasks to implement in 2011-2012. Some examples of these might be clinical lab results, patient appointment reminders and drug-formulary checks. This gives the providers a chance to choose their own path toward full EHR implementation and meaningful use. Legislation ties payments to the achievement of advances in health care processes and outcomes. The regulations are specific as to when providers will have to use particular functions in order to be considered meaningful users. The meaningful use rule acknowledges the urgency of adopting the electronic health record and recognizes the challenges it will pose on all providers.

Organizations will have these incentives and programs in place that will seek to improve the over all health of Americans along with the performance of our health care system. “Meaningful Use” through the use of the electronic medical records system will have five areas that they will be focusing on to do just that. These goals consist of;

Prior to the federal mandate of EHR, research continued to show the fallacies of the healthcare system like the report published from the Institute of medicine, stating that “medical errors are the 8th leading cause of deaths in the U.S. and cost approximately forty billion dollars a year” (Overview, 2012). This was one of many indicators that healthcare needed to be reformed and in 2009, the president signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or HITECH Act, which mandated that all healthcare providers must comply and begin to transition to electronic medical records (EMR) and demonstrate “meaningful use.” This act set up a timeline, which established that practices and hospitals needed to be up and running with EMR in order to continue receiving reimbursements from federal programs like Medicaid and Medicare.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 identified three main components of meaningful use: the use of a certified EHR in a meaningful manner, electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of care, and the use of technology to submit clinical outcomes and quality measures (Heath Resources and Service Administration, n.d.). ARRA includes many measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, with the “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act” being an example. The HITECH Act is an effort led by Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) in support of electronic health records and meaningful use (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC 2016). According to Galbraith (2013), the HITECH Act aims to promote the use of EHRs by providing over $27 billion in monetary incentives for health care providers that become “meaningful users”. CMS uses these core objectives to determine if a health care provider has satisfied meaningful use and is eligible to receive financial incentives (Galbraith, 2013).

For over 10 years, all areas of industry have been investing in informational technology (IT). IT offers faster and more proficient care especially for the healthcare industry. Health information technology (HIT) is making significant changes in how care is being delivered and addressed for patients and healthcare workers. HIT includes electronic health records (EHR), personal health records (PHI), electronic prescribing and more. The potential list is endless. HIT provides for more accurate and efficient documentation, prescriptions, and education. The Obama administration came up with an answer to help in HIT by instituting the meaningful use. This paper will discuss the overview of meaningful use, its’ core criteria, and recommendations for additional criteria.

In 2009, more than $30 billion dollars in incentives was allocated by congress for hospitals to institute meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) by 2011 (Adler-Milstein, Bates, & Jha, 2011) (Murphy, 2010). The Meaningful Use Act is a complicated principle that is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as well as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act.

Legislation such as the Health Information Technology for Economics and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act promoted meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR) to provide better patient outcomes (CDC, n.d.). Meaningful use is regulated by CMS and National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and is based on five goals including: improving quality, safety, efficiency and reducing health disparities, engage patients and families in their health, improve care coordination, improve population and public health,