As the Obama Administration continues to push for implementation of and better adherence to EHRs (electronic health records), exciting news has just been released from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: 98% have avoided meaningful use payment adjustments as a result of complying with federal regulations.[1]

The push for meaningful use of EHR technology means that more hospitals are being asked to demonstrate they have the capabilities to use it to improve the quality of health care. Additionally, the United States government points out that meaningful use of EHR technology helps to reduce disparities within medical facilities, improves patient privacy and security, and helps improve public heath issues[2]

When hospitals and medical facilities cannot prove that they’ve implemented EHR technology using quantitative or qualitative data, they are penalized with a negative payment adjustment. Fortunately, 98% of hospitals avoided negative payment adjustments, as they were shown to be within one of the first two stages of meaningful use attestation. Most hospitals were in the first stage of meaningful use attestation.

For the remaining 2% of hospitals and medical facilities, there’s speculation that the meaningful use deadline will be pushed in order to accommodate any hardship requests. Deadlines may be extended to hospitals that meet the following criteria:

• The hospital faces insurmountable barriers for getting sufficient broadband internet access;

• A hospital was recently built and did not have time to adhere to meaningful use requirements;

• A natural disaster or other unforeseen circumstance prevented the hospital from achieving meaningful use; and

• A hospital was impacted by an EHR vendor certification delay.

As the leading solution for certified EHR technology, Onyx Healthcare specializes in creating top-grade computing platforms that meet FDA and regional requirements, all while shortening a client’s design cycle. Onyx Healthcare is proud to work closely with hospitals and medical facilities to ensure that they achieve stage 1 of meaningful use attestation before federal deadlines. To learn more about Onyx’s EHR technology or to schedule a consultation, visit http://www.onyxhealthcareusa.com/.

[1] https://ehrintelligence.com/news/98-of-hospitals-avoid-meaningful-use-payment-adjustments

[2] http://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572(14)00477-8/abstract