PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Karen Bell, MD, MMS, is Chair of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology. She has unique expertise in the certification process of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and will be discussing the philosophy, benefits, and mechanism of certification. She will also discuss the concept of meaningful use of EHRs and how the government intends to use these criteria to allocate HITECH funds to physicians and organization who implement EHRs. This is a very timely subject and her expertise provide unique insight regarding your chance of accessing these funds. Dr. Lusk will discuss strategies to be used by the Academy to keep our members informed of the issues regarding EHRs, their certification, and implementation. Dr. Bell will also discuss the cultural changes required by any organization implementing an EHR and how this technology will fundamentally change how we treat and document patient care. Insurance companies, employers, and the government will require each of us to document our treatment protocols and outcomes. Therefore, each of us will be involved in medical research and the only way to efficiently accomplish this is through an EHR. Dr. Michael Hassett is actively involved in developing standards required of all EHRs for medical research and will give his vision of how they will allow each of us to be involved in outcomes research. This panel promises to be authoritative and provide the most up–to-date information available regarding EHR certification, regulation, and implementation.
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: 1) Understand the process and significance of EHR certification. 2) Understand the government's goal/intent to incentivize physicians to implement EHRs through meaningful use criteria. 3) Understand how the Academy intends to keep membership informed of changes and implementation of EHRs.
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