Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/90491
The Meaningful Use Success s of I AS OF FEBRUARY 2012, THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES HAD ISSUED $3.12 BILLION IN INCENTIVE PAYMENTS TO HOSPITALS AND PHYSICIANS WHO ACHIEVED MEANINGFUL USE OF HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HIT). A SERIES OF BEST PRACTICES AND SOLUTIONS TO THE RIDDLE OF MEANINGFUL USE IS BECOMING CLEAR AS HEALTH CARE REFORM PROGRESSES AND LEADERS IN THE FIELD BEGIN TO EMERGE. MPLEMENTING AN ELECTRONIC health record (EHR) system requires tremendous evaluation and plan- ning — perhaps the reasons many providers who have begun the attestation process indicate the first steps are the most difficult. According to Shahid N. POWER USER PLAYBOOK A. Maintain a clinical perspective of meaningful use. B. Consider your practice's unique needs before selecting an EHR vendor and identify workflow adjustments needed to meet meaningful use data requirements. C. Evaluate your current technology and invest in necessary upgrades to ensure your EHR system operates efficiently. D. Installing the EHR system is only part of the challenge. Assess your data population needs and plan accordingly. E. Map out staff training objectives in detail. Seemingly simple details such as data entry uniformity are essential to effectively using the EHR once it is installed. 12 | Mid Hudson MD NEWS s MDNEWS.COM Shah, CEO of Netspective and blogger at HealthcareGuy.com, who has more than 35 years of experience in the information technology field, understanding the goals, costs and logistics of achieving meaningful use up front will save eligible hospitals and providers time and money in the long run. Although achieving meaningful use qualifies providers for incentives from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Shah stresses that providers must remember the ultimate goal is to improve clinical care. As noted in the report "Meaningful Use: Lessons Learned on the Path to EHR Excellence in Ambulatory Care," interviewees — all of whom had received the Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society — viewed federal incentives as "rewards" for improvements they should be making anyway. "Providers need to realize they should go into EHRs and meaningful use because their businesses and patients will demon- strably benefit from the purchase," Shah says. "The incentives the government is giving out should be seen as a way of partial payment for the EHR investment." In addition to understanding the goals of meaningful use, Shah explains that evaluation of information technology infrastructure and associated costs is paramount to selecting the proper EHR system. Investments are often required to update these technologies and should be considered part of the overall EHR system cost. "Before you can purchase an EHR system, you need good power, good connectivity (Internet), good networking (internal), good computers and good software to support the system," he says. Another facet of successful EHR implementation is planning for data population of the system and workflow adjustments that will be necessary to use EHRs efficiently. This includes proper staff training in areas such as data entry, network navigation and workstation processes, among others. Building on the Foundation According to Shah, each new stage of attestation will expand upon the preced- ing ones. Accordingly, providers working toward achieving Stage 2 of meaningful use may have more work to do. A report by the Global Institute for