Health IT, MU highlighted in HHS strategic plan
The Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS’) recently released FY 2014-2018 strategic plan highlights four goals, including strengthening healthcare, advancing scientific knowledge and innovation, advancing the health, safety and well-being of the U.S. population, and ensuring the efficiency, transparency, accountability and effectiveness of its programs. Within the goal to strengthen healthcare is one objective that focuses on improving healthcare and population health through meaningful use of health IT.
“The meaningful use of health IT offers a range of potential benefits, including improved care coordination, fewer medical errors and improved healthcare quality, reduced healthcare costs, support for reformed payment structures and improved population health,” according to the plan.
HHS lists a number of strategies to reap these benefits, including encouraging health IT across the care continuum through incentives, grants, certification and technical assistance; enhancing public awareness of health IT’s value; expanding telemedicine technologies; using health IT to support value-based models; and working to ensure privacy and security of electronic health data.
HHS listed three performance goals specifically tied to this health IT objective:
- Increase the percentage of public health agencies that can receive production Electronic Laboratory Reporting Meaningful Use-compliant messages from certified EHR technology used by eligible hospitals.
- Increase the percent of office-based primary care physicians who have adopted EHRs (basic).
- Identify three key design principles that can be used by health IT designers to improve personal health information management.
Read the full strategic plan here.