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Speakers offer tips on implementing meaningful use
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CHICAGO – A team of optometrists outlined objectives of meaningful use and provided advice on implementing procedures to qualify, here at a continuing education seminar during Optometry’s Meeting.
Phil Gross, OD, and Jay Henry, OD, outlined the 15 core objectives and 10 menu objectives and their clinical implications.
One objective requires recording changes in vital signs.
“BMI [body mass index] is one area the government is going to push hard – and blood pressure – because the government thinks we’re a chubby country,” Dr. Henry said. “BMI is done by the software. And we really need to be doing blood pressures on people.
“It’s amazing how many patients in our office we’re finding to be hypertensive, and supposedly on medication for it, and their blood pressure is out of control,” he continued.
“A rise in hypertension in children has been reported,” Dr. Henry added. “This is important.”
Another objective requires performing at least one test of your electronic health records’ capability.
“You have to run a test to get credit for it, even if it’s not successful,” Dr. Henry said. “They know the software can do it. Why do we have to run a test?”
“They are training us that our software has the ability to do this,” Dr. Gross responded.
Dummy data can be used to run the test, but it must be done once during each reporting period, they added.
Patients must be provided with an electronic copy of their health information, according to another objective.
“More than 50% of all patients who request an electronic copy must be provided one in 3 business days,” Dr. Gross said. “Very specific information has to be included in this, but it only includes information you take electronically; it doesn’t apply to previous paper records.”