Sweating the Details on Health Technology Policy – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com
Some of the nation’s fine minds in medicine and technology have huddled, attended hearings and produced position papers in the last few weeks that focus on the definition of “meaningful use.”
The Obama administration’s health technology plan, which is part of the economic recovery package, includes incentive payments for adopting electronic health records — more than $40,000 per physician and up to several million dollars for hospitals. The payments are based on “meaningful use” of such records, although Congress left defining that term to the Department of Health and Human Services.
It may seem arcane and nit-picky, but how the government defines and measures meaningful use will determine whether the $19 billion in incentives is a significant step in reforming American health care or a high-tech fiasco.
The professional organization of people responsible for putting electronic health records to use, the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems, is wading into the discussion on Tuesday with — appropriately enough — a Web site, www.meaningfuluse.org.
via Sweating the Details on Health Technology Policy – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com.