MU program growth continues

The Meaningful Use program continues its “inexorable progress,” according to the latest reports provided during the Jan. 14 Health IT Policy Committee meeting.

Payments to providers now total $17.7 billion and, as of the end of November, more than 436,000 eligible providers (EPs) have registered for the Medicaid and Medicare EHR incentive program.

Of the $17.7 billion, almost $11 billion has gone to 4,300-plus hospitals that have achieved Meaningful Use (MU) status, while $4 billion has gone to about 210,000 physicians and health professionals qualifying under Medicare and $2.5 billion has gone to 107,000 professionals qualifying under Medicaid.

December begins the annual high point in attestation, reported Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) eHealth specialist Robert Anthony. To date, the agency has seen the bulk of attestations in January and February, he reported.

CMS also has looked at 90-day performance, comparing the earliest attestors in 2011 to those going through the process now. “We’re seeing in some cases, the later people coming in, the more they’ve learned from the wisdom of people who’ve come before them, especially in areas such as electronic prescribing and clinical summaries.”

Jennifer King, PhD, researcher with the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT, discussed more MU numbers. For example, she said all types of hospitals are progressing at about the same rate with about 90 percent of large medical institutions and small, rural hospitals having attested. Seventy percent of EPs are using a product certified to the 2014 edition.

King also cited a systematic review of health IT literature published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Building on past literature reviews, this latest review looked at 270 studies published between 2010 and 2013. The published studies revealed “predominantly position conclusions” regarding health IT's role in improving healthcare, she said. Overall, the review found areas in which the evidence is quite strong that, on average, the interventions available through EHRs have improved healthcare quality, safety and efficiency. Additionally, those using EHRs for a longer period of time are more likely to report the EHR leading to clinical benefits.