Meaningful Use and Incentive Payments

In one of my previous posts I alluded to this.

 

Read it here first !!

 

RECENT COMMENTS FROM IHEALTHBEAT.

MGMA Letter Details Concerns About Health IT Stimulus Funds

On Sunday, the Medical Group Management Association sent a letter to National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal detailing its concerns about the implementation of the federal economic stimulus package's health IT incentive program, Modern Healthcare reports.

Under the stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate "meaningful use" of electronic health records will qualify for increased federal incentive payments (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 11/23).

In the letter, MGMA argues that health care providers could miss out on the stimulus funds if the government fails to appropriately define meaningful use and administer the program effectively.

To avoid these pitfalls, MGMA recommended that the federal government:

• Allow for flexibility in approaches to meaningful use;
• Create a pilot program to test the incentive payment initiative;
• Develop a simple process to demonstrate meaningful use;
• Emphasize tested and widespread criteria when defining meaningful use;
• Enable physicians to test their reporting systems prior to full implementation;
• Focus on appropriate and achievable meaningful use criteria;
• Monitor the health IT industry; and
• Simplify data reporting processes.

MGMA also called on the government to encourage the health IT vendor community to develop high-quality and affordable software (Hardy, Healthcare IT News, 11/23).