Electronic Health Records Use on the Rise

According to Health and Human Services (HHS) as of early August 2014, more physicians and hospitals are using electronic health records (EHR) more than before. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offers incentive payments to providers who show they are meaningfully using their EHR’s by meeting certain objectives. EHR incentives are phased in three stages.

While more than 91% of hospitals report having met Stage 1 requirements, only 5.8% of them are demonstrating meaningful use as we move into Stage 2.

Stage 1

Stage 1 of the Meaningful Use Incentive Program focused primarily on adopting and using EHR system (e.g. drug to drug interaction and drug allergy checks; recording and charting changes in vital signs.)

Stage 2

Stage 2 objectives are aimed toward clinical quality improvement, transition of care, and coordination of care. Stage 2 objectives prove more challenging to achieve and HHS stated it is committed to help providers achieve meaningful use throughout Stage 2 this year.

You can read here for about at what steps HHS has implemented toward EHR meaningful use.

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