Meaningful use is a Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive program, which awards financial incentives for using certified electronic health records (EHRs) to improve patient care. In order to receive incentives, providers have to show meaningful use of their EHRs by meeting a set of criteria or objectives that serve as a roadmap for participating eligible professionals and hospitals. The EHR incentive program comprises of three stages, each stage having increased requirements. Lets understand through this infographic, the requirements to be met and how the program works.
Meaningful use stage 1 is the first phase of EHR incentive program which focuses on data capturing and sharing. It details the requirements for the use of EHR systems by participating eligible professionals, hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs). Meaningful use criteria emphasizes on electronically capturing health related data in a standardized format, using the data captured to track key clinical conditions and communicating the information for better patient care and coordination. The EHR incentive program encourages healthcare professionals to switch from paper charts to adopting electronic records thereby providing best patient care and improving practice’s efficiency while providing incentives for meaningful use of certified EHR.
