IT leaders look back on first year of meaningful use
What does meaningful use look like one year later? That was the point of a discussion during a press briefing hosted by the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME), Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and EHR Association in Washington, D.C., as industry leaders assessed year one of the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.
Panelists agreed the nation’s health IT landscape is transforming due to the HITECH Act and nearly $30 billion in stimulus funding made available by demonstrating meaningful use of EHRs.
Speaking on behalf of CHIME, Joanne Sunquist, CIO of Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, called meaningful use important to the policy platform and an impactful incentive program. “Meaningful use reinforces our hospital’s EHR strategy while providing us direction to make future improvements,” she said.
Hennepin County received a first-year incentive payment after successfully meeting the requirements of the program and demonstrating meaningful use of EHRs. Even though her hospital was an early adopter of electronic health records, meaningful use gave Sunquist credence and assurance that the hospital was on the right path.
“Going through the exercise of attesting for meaningful use highlighted areas where work was needed and reinforced work that had already been done,” she said.
The press briefing was part of the National Health IT Week activities, supported by more than 170 organizations, including CHIME, held this week in Washington, D.C.
Now in its sixth year, National Health IT Week assembles healthcare constituents—provider organizations, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, industry/professional associations and vendor groups—to work together to elevate national attention to the necessity of advancing health IT.
"For all healthcare stakeholders, meaningful use will continue to be a platform to challenge and reinvigorate debate about health IT’s role in improving patient outcomes, while encouraging broader payment and delivery reforms started since the passage of HITECH,” Sunquist said. “And for its part, CHIME will continue to work closely with our federal, state, industry and community partners so the benefits of an e-enabled healthcare system can be realized.”
Panelists agreed the nation’s health IT landscape is transforming due to the HITECH Act and nearly $30 billion in stimulus funding made available by demonstrating meaningful use of EHRs.
Speaking on behalf of CHIME, Joanne Sunquist, CIO of Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, called meaningful use important to the policy platform and an impactful incentive program. “Meaningful use reinforces our hospital’s EHR strategy while providing us direction to make future improvements,” she said.
Hennepin County received a first-year incentive payment after successfully meeting the requirements of the program and demonstrating meaningful use of EHRs. Even though her hospital was an early adopter of electronic health records, meaningful use gave Sunquist credence and assurance that the hospital was on the right path.
“Going through the exercise of attesting for meaningful use highlighted areas where work was needed and reinforced work that had already been done,” she said.
The press briefing was part of the National Health IT Week activities, supported by more than 170 organizations, including CHIME, held this week in Washington, D.C.
Now in its sixth year, National Health IT Week assembles healthcare constituents—provider organizations, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, industry/professional associations and vendor groups—to work together to elevate national attention to the necessity of advancing health IT.
"For all healthcare stakeholders, meaningful use will continue to be a platform to challenge and reinvigorate debate about health IT’s role in improving patient outcomes, while encouraging broader payment and delivery reforms started since the passage of HITECH,” Sunquist said. “And for its part, CHIME will continue to work closely with our federal, state, industry and community partners so the benefits of an e-enabled healthcare system can be realized.”