Was Meaningful Use a Failure?
Meaningful Use requirements were put in place to give measurable goals for CMS reimbursements as hospitals and doctors transitioned to electronic health records (EHRs). Once hospitals began to make the transition, we saw doctors getting comfortable with their new system which was tough as EHRs were not part of their education. However, once that happened, we saw doctors resistant to press further beyond having electronic medical records; they weren’t as willing to adopt more advanced systems that allowed them to transfer medical data or allowed their patients to organize their data from multiple doctors on one site.
Accordingly, hospitals and doctors struggled to meet Meaningful Use requirements and therefore missed out on much needed reimbursements.
According to Andy Slavitt, a CMS administrator, Meaningful Use will slowly be pushed out and replaced with a new plan that will focus more on patient outcomes instead of use of technology.
Does that mean that Meaningful Use failed? I should say, yes and no (a diplomatic answer). I would say that it failed in the sense that it pushed doctors and hospitals to focus more on technology than on the patient. It made it harder for individual health record vendors to really explore data exchange because of tough restrictions. However, I would say that it did not fail because something was needed to actually push doctors to make the transition to EHRs and they believed that changing reimbursement was the best way. It’s okay CMS is trying something new; what else do you expect them to do? Keep dreaming of interoperability without letting anyone really exchange data?
This creates an open door for start-up companies and vendors alike who are focused on interoperability. That means that vendors who only focused on making health data silos will be pushed to the side because they are no longer useful in the mission. Personal health record platforms that are oriented to both manage and exchange patient data will rise to the forefront.
It’s about time vendors and APIs get a chance to collaborate and experiment with data exchange. We see now that just moving medical records to an electronic, stagnant platform was not enough. Companies like MediPortal who foresaw that have been working on interoperability since the beginning and will continue to join forces with those who are serious about making it happen. So, out with Meaningful Use, in with true, evidence-based care.
