What Meaningful Use Means To Non-Meaningful Users: CIO Series

Just because a provider is not eligible for or participating in the EHR Incentive Programs, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he can turn a blind eye to meaningful use. In all likelihood, other healthcare organizations in the care community that the provider does business with will be implementing changes to their certified EHR technology to meet the requirements of subsequent stages of meaningful use. As a result, the EHR Incentive Programs can still serve as a driver of health IT adoption for non-meaningful users, albeit indirectly, in order for these providers to streamline the business of coordinating and delivering care.

Such is the case of Pediatric Associates in Washington State, a physician-owned organization whose physicians are either ineligible for the EHR Incentive Program for Medicare or do not deem the Medicaid portion of meaningful use to be a worthwhile business investment. But that hasn’t stopped the organization from taking meaningful use into account when enhancements are considered for its EHR and health IT systems and services, says Pediatric Associates CIO Brock Morris.

In this installment of the CIO series, Morris explains what meaningful use means to a non-meaningful user and how requirements for the EHR Incentive Programs influence health IT-related business decisions for his organization.