How to Qualify for Money

In order to qualify for incentive payments, physicians must use a “certified” EMR. The act does not specify what “certification” will mean or who will provide certification but there is general consensus that the certifying organization will be the independent Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT).

Meaningful Use

In order to qualify for stimulus funds a Doctor must also demonstrate “meaningful use” of an EMR. The Health IT Policy Committee will revise its initial suggestions for defining "meaningful use" of electronic health records as a prerequisite for federal stimulus bonuses, but the first draft gives physicians an idea of what kind of requirements and deadlines to expect.

By 2011
• Use computerized physician order entry for all order types, including medications.
• Incorporate laboratory tests into EHRs and share results electronically with public health agencies.
• Generate lists of patients by specific condition to use for quality improvement.
• Provide clinical summaries for patients after each encounter.
• Exchange key clinical information among health professionals (problems, medications, allergies, test results, etc.).

By 2013
• Generate and transmit prescriptions electronically.
• Manage chronic conditions using patient lists and decision support tools.
• Use bar coding for medication administration.
• Offer secure patient-physician messaging capability.
• Record patient preferences in EHR.

By 2015
• Achieve minimal levels of performance on quality, safety and efficiency measures.
• Give patients access to self-management tools.
• Access comprehensive patient data from all available sources.
• Conduct automated real-time surveillance on occurrences such as adverse events, disease outbreaks and bioterrorism.
• Incorporate clinical dashboards into EHR.