NYT offers ideas on how to make EHR work

An article in The New York Times over the weekend—How to Make Electronic Medical Records a Reality—discusses how recent legislation is trying to stimulate EHR adoption:

A main feature of the legislation calls for incentive payments of more than $40,000 spread over a few years for a physician who buys and uses electronic health records. But the technology is just a tool, one that needs to be used properly to improve health care.

So the legislation states that physicians will be paid only for the “meaningful use” of digital records. The government has not yet defined that term precisely. While the long-term goal is better health for patients, that can take years to measure. Consequently, many health experts predict that the meaningful use will be a requirement to collect and report measurements that can be closely correlated with improved health. Examples would be data for blood glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure levels for diabetes patients.

The article also highlights Primary Care Information Project in New York City as an example of EHR implementation done right.

To learn more, read the article in The New York Times.