Meaningful Use

Meaningful Use is defined as the use of health information technology (HIT) in order to improve healthcare and facilitate information exchange among health care professionals.

The meaningful use rule is just one of a set of regulations to help create a comprehensive and secure electronic health information systems. To become “Meaningful Users,” providers need to demonstrate they’re using certified EHR technology.

For a more comprehensive description of Meaningful Use and for a print-friendly PDF, please click here.

What is Meaningful Use?

What is the financial incentive for adopting Meaningful Use?

Who is eligible for Meaningful Use?

What are the penalties for not adopting Meaningful Use?

Which states are currently distributing Meaningful Use incentive funding?

What is Meaningful Use?

Meaningful Use is a term that describes the use of health information technology (HIT) to improve healthcare and enable information exchange in the health care industry. The meaningful use rule is part of a coordinated set of regulations to help create a private, secure, and modernized electronic health information system. To become “Meaningful Users,” providers need to demonstrate they’re using certified EHR technology in ways that can be quantitatively measured.

What is the financial incentive for adopting Meaningful Use?

The HITECH Act, which is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 passed by Congress, intends to incentivize the adoption of Electronic Health Records for organizations and physicians. There are separate incentive plans offered by Medicaid and Medicare. For Medicaid, the maximum amount is $63,750 per eligible professional over 6 years, beginning in 2011. For Medicare the maximum payments are $44,000 per eligible professional over 5 years.

Who is eligible for Meaningful Use?

In the human services industry, currently psychiatric hospitals, behavioral, mental health and addiction treatment facilities are not eligible for incentive funding. However, if your organization employs Eligible Professionals (EPs), they may qualify for receiving Meaningful Use incentive payments, which they can then attribute to your organization. Some psychiatrists and nurse practitioners qualify as EPs, but clinical psychologists, case workers and licensed social workers do not.

What are the penalties for not adopting Meaningful Use?

Physicians who don’t adopt an EHR by 2015 will be penalized 1% of their Medicare payments. This amount increases to 3% over 3 years for each year they do not adopt a certified EHR (hyperlink to certification FAQ page).

As of June 2010, there are no penalty provisions for those who receive Medicaid funding.

Which states are currently distributing Meaningful Use incentive funding?

Medicare: For those applying for incentive funding through Medicare, you can attest for Meaningful Use at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website here.

Medicaid: For those applying for incentive funding through Medicaid, you will have to go through a state-specific attestation system. A list of each state’s expected launch date for Medicaid incentive funding along with links to the relevant state attestation site can be found here. This list is updated monthly.