At the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics hearing this week, physician executives offered a variety of recommendations on how to define "meaningful use" of electronic health records, Health Data Management reports.
The HHS advisory group is evaluating options for the definition, and HHS officials will consider its recommendations. The definition will help determine whether health care providers qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Physician Executive Recommendations
John Tooker, CEO of the American College of Physicians, said the definition of meaningful use should not exceed the current requirements to receive software certification from the Certification Commission for Healthcare IT.
Blackford Middleton, corporate director of clinical informatics research and development at Partners HealthCare in Boston, said that while the initial definition for meaningful use should be easily achievable with existing technology, "we should not set our sights too low" and risk hindering long-term quality advancements.
Terry McGeeney, president and CEO of the American Academy of Family Physicians' TransforMED unit, recommended that smaller group practices be held to a less rigorous standard for meaningful use than larger organizations.
John Halamka, CIO at CareGroup Health System in Boston, said the definition of meaningful use should include "processes and workflow that facilitate improved quality and increased efficiency" (Anderson/Goedert, Health Data Management, 4/29).
AHIMA Recommendation
The American Health Information Management Association said regulators should focus on improvements in quality, cost and performance when defining meaningful use of EHRs.
In a statement presented at the NCVHS hearing, AHIMA COO Sandra Fuller said, "Meaningful use should, if feasible, focus on the use of information, not the technology itself."
Echoing an earlier recommendation from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, AHIMA also supports incremental changes to the definition as time progresses.
Fuller said, "Meaningful use should be viewed as a roadmap to be stepped up over the next several years," adding, "Initial criteria should be based on what is achievable with current technology" (Anderson, Health Data Management, 4/29).
AHIMA's statement is available online (.pdf).