A Beginner’s Guide to Meaningful Use

Stage 1 for Doctors of Optometry

2Meaningful Use and EHRs

There’s been a lot of talk about implementing EHRs and meaningful use in eyecare practices. But there is also a lot of confusion surrounding meaningful use. In fact, you might have heard good and bad things about the program. That’s why we’re here to sort it all out and tell you everything you need to know to getting started.

Some of the common concerns you might have heard about meaningful use and EHRs include:

Productivity is bound to drop because the entire practice has to get used to the new system, when everything works just fine as it is!

I want to spend time seeing more patients, not more time entering large amounts of data!

It’s not worth getting an EHR! I will never be able to recover the implementation cost.

3Meaningful Use and EHRs

Despite the risks and disadvantages you may have heard, meaningful use is meant to benefit your practice and your patients.

The Meaningful Use Program was introduced in 2009 as part of the HITECH Act to promote the use of electronic health records (EHRs) in an effort to make healthcare more consistent, transparent, and allow for the measurement of quality of care. Electronic Health Records, sometimes called an electronic medical record (EMR), allows healthcare providers to record patient information electronically instead of using paper records. It also allows records to be shared across care providers. But the real key to EHRs is the ability to analyze data using the processing power of computers. This is even more powerful when performed in the cloud.

Purchasing an EHR? Find out why you should choose

a cloud-based solution!

4Meaningful Use and EHRs

Early adopters of the Meaningful Use Program qualify for incentive payments. 2014 will be the last year that a doctor can register for payments, and 2015 will be the first year of payment adjustments, which means lower reimbursements to your practice for care provided to Medicare patients.

As of February 2013, $96 million has been given out to optometrists and $74 million to ophthalmologists who participated in the program.

The incentive program is a great way to offset the cost of your initial EHR investment, but beyond that, meaningful use is all about increasing patient care and efficiency, so why not embrace a change for the better? More than 11,000 ODs have registered for the program. And *85% of doctors who have adopted an EHR reported satisfaction with the program. Now is the best time to start!

* http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/healthcare-providers-and-health- information-technology-infographic

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Table of ContentsMeaningful Use At Your Practice

6

Financial Incentives 12

Stage 1 16

Attestation 22

Being Audited 26

Planning for Meaningful Use 30

Resources 35

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