Some health care professionals who work with Health Level Seven interfaces are unaware of their organization's preparedness for the meaningful use program, according to a survey by health information security firm Core Health Technologies, FierceHealthIT reports (Bowman, FierceHealthIT, 10/16).
Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record systems can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
Health Level Seven International, or HL7, is a not-for-profit organization that develops interoperability standards for the health care industry.
For the survey, Core Health polled 1,350 CIOs, CTOs, IT managers and HL7 professionals about their organization's priorities, meaningful use preparedness and other issues (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 10/15).
Findings About Meaningful Use Awareness
The survey found that:
- 31% of surveyed HL7 professionals said that they do not know their organization's preparedness to meet meaningful use criteria; and
- 4% of surveyed HL7 professionals said that they are unaware of the meaningful use program (Walsh, Clinical Innovation &Technology, 10/17).
The remaining respondents indicated that their organization already has attested to Stage 1 of the meaningful use program or currently is on track for attestation (Core Health Technologies survey, 10/9).
Findings About Information Security
When asked about information security:
- 90% of surveyed IT managers and 89% of surveyed CIOs and CTOs said that information security was "integral to at least one of their organization's top priorities;" and
- 2% of all respondents said information security was a "top 3 priority" (FierceHealthIT, 10/16).
The remaining respondents said that information security has at least a small effect on their organization's ability to achieve its priorities (Core Health Technologies survey, 10/9).