Six tips for earning meaningful use incentives

The most recent edition of Healthcare Finance News offers six tips for earning meaningful use incentives:

Capture the “right” data - Don’t assume that the explicit functional requirements for Stage 1 of meaningful use will provide all the required data elements for earning incentives. The race is long, and it's not necessarily the fastest that will win. Keep a level head, inventory what is needed, and identify gaps.

Aim for better performance, not just measurement - It’s critical to encourage both documentation needed for quality measurement and compliance with the care recommendations behind each measure.

Make sure your electronic health records are certified - Check to make sure the product you are using is on the list of approved versions for achieving meaningful use, published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

For large health systems, consider implementing EHRs for physician practices first - Large systems, especially academic institutions, are finding they can earn three times more in meaningful use incentives for their ambulatory services than for their in-patient side. Physician incentives can then be used to foot the bill for the hospital's healthcare IT.

Don't forget to plan ahead for Stages 2 and 3, which promise to be more difficult - Some organizations are thinking in terms of Stage 1 as the finish line, when, in reality, it's just the first leg of the race. Small physician practices should learn where to get help. Doctors should talk to their admitting hospitals for recommendations. They also need to contact their regional extension center – federal offices set up across the nation specifically to help physicians navigate healthcare IT adoption and meaningful use.

Remember, the race to achieving meaningful use of EHR is a marathon, not a sprint; plan accordingly and don't be afraid to ask for a little help. We're all in this together and Lexi-Comp is here for your drug information product needs.

Comments for Six tips for earning meaningful use incentives

Thursday, October 14, 2010 by David Wilkof:: First will be the "carrot" and then the "stick". In the next few years the government will use the carrot to ensure compliance with Meaningful Use and ePrescribing. And then it will use the "stick". So you might as well get on board early and get paid during the early part of that process (during the carrot phases), because during the "stick" phase there will likely not be any money to encourage.