MEANINGFUL USE

Discover the freedom of eliminating paper charts once-and-for-all and the confidence in a system that covers CMS’ Meaningful Use Stage 1 and Stage 2 requirements.

 

What is Meaningful Use?

Meaningful use is defined as using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to do the following:

  • Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities
  • Engage patients and family
  • Improve care coordination, and population and public health
  • Maintain privacy and security of patient health information

The goals of meaningful use include improved health outcomes and increased transparency and efficiency. 

 

Stages of Meaningful Use

Meaningful Use is implemented over 3 phased stages:

 

Stage 1

Data capture and sharing

Stage 2

Advance clinical processes

Stage 3

Improve healthcare outcomes

 

 

Changes to Meaningful Use

Medicare’s meaningful use program for EHR will change from incentive to penalty. The bonuses will no longer be available to doctors and will end in 2016. Penalties for not entering the meaningful use program began in 2015, starting at 1% to 3% by 2017.  On top of these penalties, doctors can face an additional 2% penalty for not meeting prescribing standards. 

 

Who does it affect? 

As reported by “Medical Economics”, more than three-quarters of physicians have not attested to any stage of CMS’ meaningful use program as of February 2015. The result is that more than 250,000 professionals are seeing their Medicare reimbursements reduced. 

 

is my practice eligible?

If your practice provides care for Medicare or Medicaid patients, you may qualify for the Meaningful Use program.  

 

How do I register?

After you have determined that your practice is eligible for Meaningful Use and have a 2014 certified EHR, you can register for the program on the CMS website. You need to register by the date you attest to the program. 

 

OD Online makes meaningful use easy

The biggest challenges facing optometry practices attesting to meaningful use is in large part due to the difficulty of exchanging healthcare information among various providers and health systems. In addition, engaging with patients electronically via patient portals is also a new challenge that many optometry practices are not yet equipped to handle. OD Online’s EHR system addresses these challenges and more, so that optometry practices can focus on providing the best patient care.

 

Source: HealthIT.gov