Click here to download ScanSTAT’s Latest White Paper, “Medical Records and Meaningful Use.”
The following is a topic of discussion in the paper. To get the full details, please click the link above and download the full report.
The interpretations of Meaningful Use guidelines are seemingly ever-evolving with plenty of “gray” areas for deciphering the measures for EHR’s, causing much confusion in the industry. Last week, we had a post defining three Meaningful Use measures: Core Measure 12 of 15, Core Measure 13 of 15, and Menu Set Measure 5 of 10, which we hope gave you a better working definition of these measures. This week, we’d like to continue to cut through some of the industry confusion to explore what the purpose is behind these measures, and how your practice can use it to your greatest advantage.
There is a lot of confusion right now about the “right way” to go about meeting these measures through your EHR. Many medical personnel find themselves sitting next to someone at a networking event talking about their understanding and workflow processes for these measures, and get two polar opposite views. This seems like a problem, but it is not. Remember that the way your EHR product received certification for interpreting the measures largely impacts how YOU interpret the measures. So while it may be alarming that you cannot come to a common solution with your colleague at the table, it doesn’t mean either of you OR your EHR products are wrong…they’re just different.
While you and your colleague may have different workflows for meeting Meaningful Use, the overarching benefit of Meaningful Use doesn’t change: Meaningful Use practices improve workflow efficiencies and patient satisfaction. As we see it, the overarching purpose of Meaningful Use is not to mandate a laundry list of busywork items for practices but rather to provide a set of best practices that enable better point of care for the patient, less errors, and an overall lower cost of service. Practices with the proper focus on incorporating Meaningful Use as part of their “bigger picture” can institute rock solid processes for consistent performance and efficient operations. Additionally, such standard procedures and workflows provide tremendous benefit to the practice staff with the guidance to perform their job successfully and processes which can be easily replicated for efficiency.
All the Meaningful Use and Menu Set Measures have minimum requirements for completion. However, it is wise to avoid focusing on the “minimum requirements”. We find that when practices implement Meaningful Use as a best practice mechanism to improve patient care and overall patient satisfaction, they hit above and beyond the minimums presented in the measures – a benefit for not only your practice managers, but also your VIP’s – your patients!
Learn more about Meaningful Use and what it means for your practice in our latest white paper “Medical Records and Meaningful Use.” ScanSTAT works with your EHR of choice to help you meet Meaningful Use. Contact us today to see how our eROI services can help you improve your overall workflow and efficiencies today.