Comprehensive community-based solution to help achieve 'meaningful use'

Navigating the Challenges of Meaningful Use to Identify Benefits, March 31, 2010, 2 p.m. CT, a Webinar hosted by Informatics Corporation of America (ICA; www.icainformatics.com), will explore how to practically implement a community-wide solution that assists its healthcare participants to achieve the proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s (ARRA) criteria for meaningful use and bridge gaps in the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) by its provider community. ICA, provider of healthcare solutions to hospitals, integrated delivery networks (IDNs), regional health information organizations (RHIOs), and health information exchanges (HIEs), invites physicians, clinical staff, health information technology specialists, and hospital administrators to register at www.icainformatics.com.

“The role of technology in health care is to improve care and deliver services more efficiently, not to create new barriers”

“This webinar will outline how a comprehensive community-based solution can help participants in a community achieve ‘meaningful use’ in a way that truly improves the care delivery process and benefits the patients they serve,” says Jeff Cunningham, ICA’s chief technology and strategy officer. “This can be accomplished by adopting technology that overlays and augments decades of investments in healthcare technology and allows community participants to securely share information and coordinate care regardless of current system capabilities. We designed this webinar to help attendees view ARRA provisions on meaningful use as an opportunity rather than a stumbling block.”

ARRA, physicians who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs can receive up to $44,000 over five years under Medicare or $63,750 over six years under Medicaid; hospitals could receive up to four years of financial incentive payments under Medicare beginning in 2011, and up to six years of incentive payments under Medicaid beginning in October 2010.

To qualify for incentives, providers must adopt certified health information technology and use it in a manner that meets defined meaningful use requirements, which include goals to:

• Improve Quality, Safety, Efficiency
• Engage Patients and Families
• Improve Care Coordination
• Improve Population and Public Health
• Ensure Privacy and Security Protections

“The role of technology in health care is to improve care and deliver services more efficiently, not to create new barriers,” says Cunningham. “Too often health care organizations invest time and money in solutions that do not support these objectives. We believe that technology should support decisions at the point-of-care and enhance day-to-day functioning on every level. The right technology solution in today’s health care environment can clearly facilitate a community’s ability to meet meaningful use requirements.”