by
Olga Deshchenko, DOTmed News Reporter | February 11, 2011
From the January/February 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Staying up-to-date
Although meaningful use has been creating a buzz in the medical community for months, keeping up with the changes in regulations, as well as products and services that are flooding the market, can be overwhelming.
Smaller providers find it especially hard to stay on top of all the HIT requirements. “Many small facilities absolutely do not have the resources to dedicate someone to full-time monitor meaningful use,” says Cheyenne Thomas, manager of regional accounts with Information Resource Management, a division of Spokane, Wash.-based Inland Northwest Health Services. IRM manages a health IT network with more than 4,000 physicians in 34 hospitals and health facilities throughout western U.S.
Facilities that lack meaningful use leaders often think investing in certified software is good enough. “That’s the easy part,” says Marc Johnston, director of regional accounts with IRM. “The tough part is going to be proper data capture within the facility, the process and the procedure [of implementation].”
Johnston says a common mistake among facilities is duplication of data, which won’t fly for meaningful use recording. In many instances, it’s an honest mistake. “It really comes down to the lack of understanding, knowledge and education about meaningful use and what providers truly need to do in their facilities,” he says.
Larger facilities also say the amount of information can be overwhelming and emphasize the importance of appointing a leader or group dedicated to meaningful use. Iowa Health System has a functional team across its enterprise, including executives and subject matter experts. Similarly, The Christ Hospital established a Meaningful Use Steering Committee, which includes clinical, financial and executive hospital representatives.
This month, one of the committee’s initiatives is to organize an educational session on meaningful use for the physicians. Many doctors haven’t seen a complete list of measures required for meaningful use, while others didn’t even know meaningful use impacts the hospital. “The feedback we’ve had is that [information] has been fragmented enough that doctors don’t have a good handle on what the expectations are at all,” says Vaillancourt.
IRM’s Thomas echoes the notion of plentiful yet deficient information on the topic — on the daily basis, she gets as many as 20 invitations to webinars or events, all promising to explain meaningful use. However, she recommends declining such invitations. “My biggest piece of advice to anyone out there that’s working on meaningful use is to remember that CMS and ONC are your only official spots to get information about the meaningful use program,” she says.
