In a recent survey, 90% of health care leaders said achieving "meaningful use" of electronic health records to qualify for incentive payments made available by the 2009 economic stimulus package was one of their organization's top two priorities, InformationWeek reports.
CSC, an IT services and consulting firm, surveyed 60 health care executives in June and July about critical concerns and goals. Roughly 50% of respondents were CIOs or IT leaders, while 50% were operational executives including CEOs, CFOs and COOs.
Meaningful Use Results
The survey found that compliance with meaningful use provisions was the top priority for:
- 84% of CIOs and other health IT leaders;
- 67% of all respondents; and
- 48% of non-IT executives.
In addition, 42% of all respondents said helping their networks of owned or affiliated physicians comply with meaningful use rules for ambulatory care EHR systems was their second highest priority.
Other Findings
One-tenth of respondents cited conversion to ICD-10 diagnosis coding by 2013 as their top priority (Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek, 7/22).
Two-thirds of respondents plan to participate in a health information exchange. Currently, 11% of respondents said their facilities take part in a statewide exchange (Manos, Healthcare IT News, 7/22).