New Article in iHealthBeat.org on EHR

Achieving Meaningful EHR Use: Leveraging Community Structures

Widespread use of interoperable electronic health records is necessary for transforming how health care is delivered and will be a key enabler of health care reform, says a recent article from iHealthBeat.org. The Health IT provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act seek to promote nearly universal EHR adoption over the next 10 years, largely through incentive payments to be paid following meaningful use of EHRs for improvements in health quality, efficiency, prevention and safety. However, successful implementation of EHRs is challenging, especially among small practices where most primary care is delivered. These practices generally lack expertise and resources to purchase, install and use information technology to work better and more efficiently. Furthermore, despite the requirements for standards and certification, uncoordinated EHR implementations are unlikely to result in functional interoperability between systems. In order to achieve the goal of meaningful EHR deployment, it is essential that the final recovery package supports funding for implementation through regional extension centers across the country, write the authors. For the full article, please see: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Perspectives/2009/Achieving-Meaningful-EHR-Use-Leveraging-Community-Structures.aspx