Demonstrating Meaningful Use of EMR pertains to a set of established criteria that eligible EMR users must meet in order to receive EMR Stimulus incentive payouts established as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Meaningful Use electronic medical record guidelines set certain benchmarks and deadlines that EMR users must meet in their implementation and use of an EMR System to qualify for the federal EMR Stimulus incentive payments.
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EMR Meaningful Use Goals
Meaningful Use criteria was established to encourage clinics, medical offices, office based practitioners and patient care facilities (including CHCs) to make the switch to an electronic data sharing environment in an ongoing effort to improve the function and efficiency of the US healthcare system.
The basic aims of implementing Meaningful Use EMR standards and offering EMR Stimulus incentives for reaching these EMR Meaningful Use goals are several-fold.
In summary they involve ensuring that eligible healthcare providers demonstrate that they are meaningfully using their EMR system. This involves such verifiable activities as;
| e-Prescribing | Clinical Decision Support |
| Interoperability | Public Health Reporting |
| Quality Reporting | and Computerized Physician Order Entry |
Meaningful Use EMR 2011 Launch
The entry year for eligible medical professionals to begin receiving payment benefits if they conform to Meaningful Use standards is 2011. Physicians entering the system early, either in 2011 or 2012, have the opportunity to take advantage of the maximum amount of available EMR Stimulus incentive payments.
Eligibility to receive the maximum total payment under Medicare for instance, requires entrance into the program in either year 2011 or 2012. For those medical providers applying under the Medicare provisions who do not meet Meaningful Use EMR standards by 2012, the total incentive payment available is reduced.
EMR Meaningful Use Objectives Overview
Certain objectives defining Meaningful Use EMR have been established that eligible healthcare providers must meet in order to be in conformity with certified EMR practices.
There are two categories of requirements that have been set that are immediately applicable to those entering the program in either 2011 or 2012. These objectives fall under Meaningful Use Stage 1.
There are 3 Stages of Meaningful Use criteria that will gradually be implemented into the system. Eligible medical providers will be required to meet these criteria based upon their year of entrance into the program.
The earlier the entrance, the less stringent Meaningful Use EMR criteria will be incumbent upon medical providers to qualify for full EMR Stimulus incentives.
EMR Meaningful Use Core and Menu Objectives
Of the two main types of requirements the first are core objectives, which involve 15 measures that must be achieved by physicians in order to be eligible as one of the medical providers that qualify for Meaningful Use incentive payments.
The second are menu objectives, a set of 10 requirements, of which medical providers must choose at least 5 that they will meet. If a medical physician demonstrates conformity to both the core and chosen menu objectives within the Meaningful Use EMR deadline then he or she will qualify for the available EMR incentive payments.
Meaningful Use EMR Incentive Provisions
The maximum incentive payment available to healthcare providers demonstrating conformity to Meaningful Use EMR criteria is $44,000 under the Medicare provision.
This amount increases to over $60,000 for those who meet the standards and receive at least 30% of their cases through Medicaid. There are also bonus incentives given to those physicians who sign up early.
Meaningful Use Certified EMR Vendor Selection
There are a significant amount of requirements that must be met to qualify for financial incentives under EMR and Meaningful Use guidelines. Therefore, the choice of the right Meaningful Use certified EMR vendor is one of the most important decisions a physician provider can make.
Considerations should include those vendors (like MicroMD) with a proven track record of offering reliable, certified products and services within the medical industry.
Flexible EMR implementation options, features to improve existing workflow and an intuitive easy to use software platform are among the most important characteristics found in our MicroMD EMR Software system.
MicroMD EMR software possess a CCHIT certification seal indicating that our EMR software meets medical industry requirements for security, functionality and compatible usability (interoperability) with other sources of health information.
EMR Meaningful Use Certified Software Provider
MicroMD, a Henry Schein Medical Systems line of medical products, is a qualified, certified EMR vendor offering a premium and flexible EMR software solution designed to efficiently handle all aspects of your medical practice's workflow environment…and to grow with your practice.
For more information about Meaningful Use EMR or our MicroMD EMR software system
please call us Toll Free at 1-800-624-8832 or contact our EMR Sales department.