Study finds no association between meaningful users and quality of care

The main goal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which invested $30 billion into the EHR Meaningful Use (MU) incentive program, was improving quality of care. However, a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found “no association” between EHR meaningful users and quality of care provided.

The researchers assessed whether being a meaningful user, as defined by meeting 15 core objectives as well as meeting 5 of 10 optional menu objectives, was associated with improved quality on seven measures for five chronic diseases. The study followed 858 Brigham and Women’s Hospital physicians using the same advanced EHR during a 90-day reporting period in 2012. Of these physicians, about 63 percent were considered meaningful users of their EHR systems.

No association was found between MU of EHRs and quality. Overall, the meaningful users performed “marginally” better for diabetes and hypertension, marginally worse for asthma and depression and no better or worse for the other measures, according to the findings.

“This study raises important questions about how to measure the effects of MU and whether MU improves quality,” wrote researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in a commentary on the study. However, they went on to say that the full effects of MU on quality may not be measurable until Stages 2 and 3.

Read the abstract here.