Provider EHR Adoption Is Only One Half Of Meaningful Use

With the beginning of Stage 2 Meaningful Use approaching in several months for eligible hospitals, healthcare organizations participating in the EHR Incentive Programs will need to exceed thresholds for exchanging health information between providers and between providers and patients.

While health information exchange (HIE) should prove significant for ensuring care coordination and patient safety during transitions of care, it is likely to pale in comparison to the importance being place on patient engagement and patient access to electronic health information (e.g., using patient portals) as emphasized by the federal agencies behind meaningful use, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. And recent news bears this out.

Yesterday, Health Tech Hatch announced its role as the official user testing platform for the Blue Button Patient Co-Design Challenge, the latest challenge put out by the ONC. [...]