HIMSS defines ?meaningful use? of EMRs for Medicare incentives

So, soon providers will get incentives for putting EMRs into place–but as is usually the case, there’s a catch. To get Medicare incentive payments, it’s not enough to simply roll out the technology; hospitals and physicians will have to prove that they’ve made “meaningful use of certified EHR technology.”

This “meaningful use” includes using the technology to exchange electronic health data to improve care quality and submitting care quality measures to HHS. Not only that, hospitals and doctors will need to meet these requirements within a specified time frame.

So, what’s a group of providers to do if they want to get the incentive payments? HIMSS has a few suggestions: http://ping.fm/L0l8M