One of the sweeping changes going on in American health care today --- apart from the whole Affordable Care Act juggernaut --- is the gradual, incremental transfer from using "paper charts and files" to employing electronic health records (or EHRs). EHRs, as is noted at the HealthIT.gov website, "can provide many benefits for providers and their patients, but the benefits depend on how they're used. Meaningful use is the set of standards defined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Incentive Programs that governs the use of electronic health records and allows eligible providers and hospitals to earn incentive payments by meeting specific criteria.... The goal of meaningful use is to promote the spread of electronic health records to improve health care in the United States." On this edition of StudioTulsa of Health, guest host John Henning Schumann speaks with an expert on both "meaningful use" and EHRs: Ron Sterling, CPA. Sterling will be speaking at an event here in Tulsa next week called "The Meaning Behind Meaningful Use." This event, sponsored by the Community Service Council of Tulsa, is billed as "Part Three in the Community Service Council's Series on Health Care Transformation," and it will happen on August 27th, beginning at 11:30am, at the Seminar Center on the TCC Northeast Campus (at 3727 East Apache Street). For more on this event, please visit this website, check out this PDF, and/or call 918-931-9813.
StudioTulsa on Health: "Meaningful Use" and Electronic Health Records
