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Wed, Dec 09 2009 4:12 PM EST
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The federal definition of meaningful use—the jargon used to describe compliance with health information technology standards—should be released by the end of the month, David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information and Technology for HHS, said Wednesday morning.
Blumenthal acknowledged that time is running out on the Obama administration’s goal of defining meaningful use in 2009—or M.U., as he claimed it is referred to in health IT circles. Meaningful use of health IT is expected to include guidelines for using certified electronic medical records, privacy and security standards and quality benchmarks. Providers who meet the standards would receive financial incentives and increased reimbursement starting in 2011. The framework will include a national health information network, help with health information exchanges and strategies to include small hospitals and physician practices in fully operational systems.
“What we are trying to do is leapfrog what many other countries have accomplished in the health information technology domain,” Blumenthal said.
Beyond the meaningful use definition, plenty of questions remain about widespread HIT adoption. One audience member asked Blumenthal when he thought most doctors and hospitals will be able to access the majority of information that they need via health information technology. Declining to make a guess, Blumenthal characterized the move toward universal HIT adoption as “the start of a long journey” and predicted incremental progress in coming years.
Another attendee asked Blumenthal how health information exchanges will be funded in the future, a good question considering that many HIEs have been short-lived. Blumenthal said he hopes the meaningful use framework will lead to “fairly cheap models of exchange” and more “lightweight” HIE structures in coming years.
Haydn Bush, quality resources specialist with AHA Quality Center, is blogging from the IHI conference.
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