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Electronic Health & Medical Records Temporary EHR Certification Program and List
Dr. David Blumenthal | June 18, 2010
A surgeon can’t operate without the proper equipment. A clinician can’t achieve meaningful use of electronic health records without an EHR that is designed to improve patient care and practice efficiency.
The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services announces today a big step in ensuring that clinicians can easily identify EHRs and EHR modules that have the capabilities needed to achieve meaningful use and thereby reap the financial incentives offered by Medicare and Medicaid.
Electronic Health & Medical Records Health IT Adoption
Dr. David Blumenthal | June 14, 2010
Introducing change in health care is never easy. Historically, adopting our most fundamental medical technologies, from the stethoscope to the x-ray, were met with significant doubt and opposition. So it comes as no surprise that in the face of change as transformational as the adoption of health IT – even though it carries the promise of vastly improving the nation’s health care – some hospitals and providers push back. I resisted using EHRs while an internist in Boston,
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EHR Case Studies Health IT Journeys: Share your EHR Implementation Stories
Dr. David Blumenthal | May 27, 2010
Across the country, in practices large and small, urban and rural, general and specialized, health care providers are beginning their journey towards the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). Some practices are in the preliminary stages of learning about health IT, while others have already implemented systems and are using them to the benefit of patients.
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EHR Case Studies ONC Beacon Communities Lead the Charge
Dr. David Blumenthal | May 5, 2010
Across the nation, in communities large and small, health information technology (health IT) innovators are boldly leading the way toward the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). Yesterday, we awarded $220 million in Beacon Community cooperative agreements to 15 trailblazing community consortiums that will demonstrate how the meaningful use of electronic health records can serve as a critical foundation for achieving measurable improvement in the quality and efficiency of health care in the United States.
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Meaningful Use Why Be a Meaningful User?
Dr. David Blumenthal | April 27, 2010
As I write, physicians throughout the United States are deciding whether to become meaningful users of electronic health records by 2011 when Medicare and Medicaid start making extra payments to meaningful users. For some the decision may be pretty simple. Almost 200,000 doctors already have adopted EHRs and are using them at a basic or sophisticated level. For these physicians, the journey to meaningful use, and its financial and clinical rewards, may be comparatively short. Many other doctors,
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