Health InsuranceSequel Systems Supports Meaningful Use Workshop's Recommendations To Health IT Policy Committee
Sequel Systems, Inc. announced it supports the recommendations from the US. Department of Health and Human Services" Meaningful Use Workgroup for the definition of "meaningful use" as it pertains to electronic health records (EHR).
On June 16, the Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee"s Meaningful Use Workgroup released its initial recommendations on how "meaningful use" will be defined. In a three-page preamble, the key goals postulated in the initial recommendations are: to improve quality, safety and efficiency, and reduce health disparities; to engage patients and their families; to improve care coordination, to improve population and public health; and to ensure privacy and security protections for personal health information.
"Although it is a daunting and complex endeavor to define "meaningful use," the Workgroup has clearly developed the foundation of an inspiring and comprehensive definition that sets the groundwork for a tangible and substantial vision of transforming health care delivery while highlighting that this is a progressive undertaking focused on results and not merely an exercise in software implementation," said Irfan Iqbal, Director of Medical Informatics, Sequel Systems.
President Barack Obama signed into law on February 17 the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that qualifies hospitals and physicians for $17 billion worth of incentive payments from Medicaid and Medicare over five years. The ARRA authorizes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide financial incentives to physicians and hospitals that successfully become "meaningful users" of EHRs, beginning in 2011. By 2015, all physicians and providers must be using EHRs in compliance with the "meaningful use" definition, or else be subject to graduated penalties under Medicare.
"In developing the recommended criteria and prioritizing the progression towards a fully interoperable health information system, we have found it necessary to balance the competing goals of encouraging provider participation while promoting progress towards reform of our current health care system," the workgroup stated in its preamble.
The workgroup further states that the use of EHRs will not only improve the prevention and management of chronic diseases, but will also prevent unnecessary amputations, premature deaths and other medical errors. An Institute of Medicine report showed that 100,000 people die each year from medical errors in hospitals, and more than 1.5 million people are injured. As a result, these medical errors have cost U.S. taxpayers $17-$29 billion annually.
"Sequel Systems supports the Meaningful Use Workgroup"s initial recommendations while underscoring the fact that Sequel Systems" successful customer implementation experience proves that those users who started utilizing EHRs early on not only have had the luxury of implementation time on their side, but also have improved their workflows and quality of patient care in a progressively "meaningful" manner while benefiting from advances in technology along the way," Mr. Iqbal said. "Sequel Systems believes that sound implementation strategies with emphasis on an "evolutionary" versus "revolutionary" approach - keeping in mind the diverse needs of users, whether small practices and clinics or large hospitals and organizations - will be the cornerstone of meaningful EHR adoption."
Sequel Systems