Meaningful Use

"Historically, telehealth hasn't received the attention that it's deserved from the federal government," says Neal Neuberger, executive director of the Institute for e-Health Policy and president of Health Tech Strategies. A case in point is the government's meaningful use program.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, may be optimistic about the promise of healthcare information technology, but when he spoke April 26 at the Bipartisan Policy Center, he also warned of challenges ahead.

Presidential candidates are beginning to line up in the past month, as more Republicans declared their intentions of running. Several of them have strong ties to health IT.

The Department of Health and Human Services has launched two programs aimed at improving healthcare and reducing costs. Both rely heavily on healthcare IT.

It’s hard to tap the brakes – even ever so slightly – to an initiative like the government’s meaningful use program.

With hospitals "raising the bar" to meet meaningful use requirements, new positions are being created within IT departments that have a focus on quality and data, says one consultant.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is seeking comments on approaches that will enable providers and other healthcare entities to obtain and manage digital certificates that are cross-certified with the Federal Bridge.

Keeping its "eye on the prize, but feet on the ground," the advisory panel to the HIT Policy Steering Committee recently took a step closer to pushing back Stage 2 of meaningful use. Such a delay, the committee said, would grant providers more time to incorporate other deadline-driven health IT projects – most notable, the massive ICD-10 conversion – into their agendas.

Federal incentives to support health IT have aided in the growth of the nation's use of electronic prescription by 72 percent in 2010, according to a new report from Surescripts.

AMIA, the association for informatics professionals, is urging the Office of the National Coordinator to give particular attention to workforce development. The organization called attention to healthcare IT workforce needs as part of its response to ONC's call for comments on the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan.