IT
service provider CSC launched its Meaningful
Use Community Website July 21 to provide an online forum for the health
care industry in which people can share ideas and learn from experts on how to
achieve meaningful use of electronic health records.
According
to David Hampshire, CSC's senior partner and
managing director for health delivery, the community will be a portal where
health care providers can access blogs and analysis and get feedback on how to
implement meaningful use guidelines. "They'll have a place to go where
they can get a lot of feedback and a lot of insight in short order,"
Hampshire told eWEEK.
Jive Software's
social-business software powers the CSC
Meaningful Use Community site.
The
exchange of health information is one of the objectives of the final meaningful use guidelines announced by the Department of
Health and Human Services July 13.
Under
the Obama administration's ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), health
care providers can qualify for up to $27 billion in incentives from Medicare
and Medicaid to implement EHRs or EMRs (electronic medical records) beginning
in 2011.
"Information
sharing is critical in helping the health care industry quickly and
meaningfully adopt electronic health records," Judy Hanover, research
manager with IDC Health
Insights, said in a statement. "Accurate and timely information will
help providers to implement EHRs appropriately and in time to qualify for
meaningful use incentives."
With
the HHS meaningful use document coming in at
864 pages, an online community dedicated to digesting these guidelines could be
beneficial for health care IT professionals.
"CSC's
Meaningful Use Community is providing a place for the industry to come
together, exchange ideas and learn from experts and peers," Hanover
added.
In
a survey released on July 22, CSC
interviewed IT executives, academic medical centers and IDNs (integrated
delivery networks or multihospital systems) regarding their priorities and
challenges in health care IT and found that meaningful use was a top priority
for 84 percent of IT executives.
The
CSC survey also found that 51 percent of
hospitals aim to qualify for meaningful use funds in 2011.
The
biggest challenges reported by subjects in the study were physician
documentation, reporting quality metrics and implementing HIEs (health
information exchanges).
Recently,
Verizon announced an HIE accessible via the cloud. Another
player in the HIE space is IBM's Initiate, which offers master data management
software.
Initiate
Exchange, launched in March, powers the CareSpark HIE for the central
Appalachian region. By sharing information in regional exchange networks,
health care IT providers aim to improve the delivery of care through physician
coordination. Storing data in an HIE also allows physicians to better manage
prescription delivery, fight fraud and foster patient privacy, according to
Initiate.
Health Care IT 
