Incentives For Meaningful Use Certified Ehr

By Coleen Torres


The national health policy has provided incentives to professionals, health institutions and hospitals to incorporate technology in order to improve efficiency. The regulations and criteria have been provided by responsible authorities. Officials at the national level are monitoring compliance with regulations set under the meaningful use certified ehr initiative. It aims at achieving efficiency in health information sharing and storage.

A temporary certification program was introduced on trail basis. It sort to test compliance on an on-going basis to ensure that institutions and professionals are building the capacity as a continuous process towards the permanent status. The temporary certificate demands proof that adequate steps are being taken towards the final goal. The evidence provided must meet a particular threshold.

The temporary program is gradually being phased out and replaced by a permanent one that will be improved over time. An evaluation period is provided so that interested candidates can meet their targets on continuing basis. The authorities concerned release regular updates for consumption by the public and interested parties. This information is available in the public domain.

The tests, tools, cases and requirements released by national authorities assist candidates through the evaluation processes. The national office responsible for technology and standardization has developed these rules. They outline requirements at each level for both institutions and professionals seeking certification.

Incentives are only provided to facilities and institutions that can prove that they are effectively utilizing this technology. They must meet a particular threshold as set by the standardization institute. The threshold includes exchange of care summary records alongside patient information sharing.

Critical access hospitals, professionals and health facilities are required to fulfill different criteria. It is the area of specialization that determines the details required of each candidate. Institutions must facilitate professionals working within as they seek to meet their thresholds.

There are several stages towards meeting ehr requirements. Each of these stages demands unique participation and engagement. It takes 90 days of year one and a full second year to have the first stage completed. Any candidate must complete the first stage successfully before proceeding to the next.

The second stage takes two full years within which the institution or individual will be under scrutiny by the authorities responsible. Individuals use calendar years during their vetting process while institutions and health facilities work with the federal fiscal year. Individuals can be certified even if the institution has not fully complied because their requirements are independent.

Professionals have to fulfill 17 core objectives in order to have their status approved. Hospitals and critical access hospitals have to meet nineteen objectives, sixteen of which are core while three are chosen from a menu. Professionals also have a menu from where they select three more objectives to get a total of twenty.

Certification payment incentives are subjected to federal reduction under the sequentration program. The figure is set at two percent as is used in the medicare plan. The government set April 2013 as the final date of reporting by following this percentage.




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