Meaningful Use

Several years ago, a mandate was ordered requiring all healthcare facilities to progress from paper charting and record keeping to electronic health record (EHR). This transition to electronic formatting has pros and cons associated with it. I will be describing the EHR mandate, including who initiated it, when it was initiated, the goals of the EHR, and how the Affordable Care Act and the Obama administration are tied into it. Then I will show evidence of research and discuss the six steps of this process as well as my facilities progress with EHR. Then I will describe meaningful use and how my facility attained it. Finally, I will define HIPAA law, the possible threats to patient confidentiality relating to EHR, and how what my facility

“Go Paperless and Get Paid” is how the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) presents the incentives for electronic health records. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. Department of HHS) distributed more than $160 billion dollars to “improve and preserve health care, health information technology, community health, and prevention initiatives” (United States Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2014e). Likewise, the ONC offers “Health IT Adoption Programs” through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, seeking to advance the American health care delivery system and to improve patient care through an unique investment towards health information technology (HHS, 2014d). Additionally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reward eligible hospitals and professionals with monetary incentives as they implement, adopt, or upgrade and demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology (HHS, 2014b). The Electronic Health Records Improvement Act (H.R. 1331) introduced by the United States House of Representative Diane Black is a bill to further improve the nation’s health care adoption of health information technology.

There are OBJECTIVES where we can identify what we want to be able to do or to do better.

Provide a list of your organisation’s policies, procedures and plans that will inform team and personal goal setting. If you are not currently working, you can use the policy, procedure and business plan documents in the Assessment Toolkit to provide a list (100 – 200 words).

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made an investment in the year 2009 to encourage the adoption and implementation of the electronic health records (EHRs)(Cite). EHRs incentive payments were authorized through Medicare and Medicaid to clinicians and hospitals when they privately and securely used EHRs for achieving improvements in care delivery by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). The healthcare organizations are expected to demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs. This rule of meaningful use has been implemented to strike a balance between acknowledging the urgency of adopting EHRs for improving the healthcare system and identifying the challenges that would be put forth

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).

The ARRA includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which pursues to improve American Healthcare and patient care through an extraordinary investment in Healthcare IT (HIT). The requirements of the HITECH Act are precisely designed to work jointly to provide the necessary assistance and technical operation to providers, enable grammatical relation and organization within and among states, establish connectivity in case of emergencies, and see to it the workforce is properly trained and equipped to be meaningful users of certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs). These computer software products are designed collaboratively to intensify the footing for every American to profit from an electronic health record (EHR) as part of a modernized, interrelated, and vastly improved grouping of care delivery.

The degree of the objective will be met by a list of primary functions that my preceptor completes daily, along with an evaluation and reflection of what is prioritized and how their day is

Meaningful is used to encourage and motivate healthcare providers into “meaningful use” of their technology to improve patient care. EHR is better when you are interacting with patients and finding all their files. You can also print all the scheduled appointments for the week or even months. EHR is also very private is keeps all the patients information secure, than before how their records were years ago. We spend more time with the patient and helping with their needs.

As a health information management professional, I have provided expertise and support on a number of electronic health record, (EHR) Implementation projects. Critical Access Hospitals, electronic health record implementations have proven to be the most challenging. Financing and workforce resources are the biggest obstacles. Some CAH facilities have as few as ten patients. Revenue and cash flow is limited. Kern, (2014)

Designed to bring U.S. medicine into the digital age, by funding grants for every hospital in the united states to have the capability to utilize Electronic Health Records (EHR), similarly physicians will have equal access to introduce HER into their practice. The long term goal is to link access to all health records not only locally but on a national health information exchange (BAU, 2011). The greatest challenge will be that organizations will need to evaluate the potential and implications of new technologies, adapt them to local needs and conditions, and minimize the risks associated with new product and service deployment. Effective improvements on quality of care and outcomes, cost savings and benefits to research has proven that it has been a great asset to the healthcare industry.

Identify and describe the critical success factors, goals or objectives for areas included in scope

(a.i.2) Meeting the Program’s Performance goal is a must which will be discussed in the Job Description Section

To be useful, the stated objectives should meet several criteria which are known as SMART objectives. [Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed]