by Admin
6. December 2011 12:31
Welcome to the Health o meter® Professional Scales Blog!
Our first blog post is the perfect opportunity to illustrate to our readers the purpose behind our corporate blog. This blog is intended to be an educational resource for the healthcare community and to help create meaningful conversations about the multitude of changes occurring in the medical industry. We will cover topics such as the challenges that healthcare professionals are facing on a daily basis; what innovations are being developed to help increase workflow efficiencies; and why it is important for physicians to implement new IT solutions in their practice. There is a lot going on in healthcare right now and we are standing on the front lines along with the medical professionals looking for answers.
Electronic Medical Records - A HOT Issue At Least Until 2014!
Perhaps the biggest, most current issue in the healthcare community is EMR - Electronic Medical Records. Medical professionals are either currently using an EMR system or working on implementing one. It has been a hot topic since 2009 when the U.S. Government passed the Economic Stimulus Act which inundated the healthcare community with new mandates, regulations and reform. As part of the 2009 Stimulus Act, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (HIT) was mandated to update regulations to require utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the U.S. by 2014. In other words, under this new HITECH Act, by 2014 it will be mandatory for physicians and hospitals to use EMR/EHR for all patients.
Meaningful Use
The HITECH Act not only requires that doctors and hospitals must use a certified EMR/EHR system, but they must also adhere to established criteria of "meaningful use", that includes up to 30 measures and objectives. As outlined by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), abiding by these meaningful use criteria is referred to as "EMR compliant".
Proving meaningful use sounds like a complicated undertaking and it can be. There are numerous rules to follow to prove your EMR compliance and only a few ways to abide by those rules. For example, according to the "General Certification Criteria for Complete EHRs or EHR Modules" as outlined by the HITECH Act, a certified EMR system must "Enable a user to electronically record, modify, and retrieve a patient’s vital signs including, at a minimum, the height, weight, blood pressure, temperature, and pulse."
Look for next week’s post that will continue this conversation by asking "How can a medical professional achieve this particular standard of meaningful use?"
Source: http://www.hipaasurvivalguide.com/hit-subchapter-d/hit-170-302.php
Leading the weigh