Incorporating electronic records can be costly, and providers may be resistant to implementing them. Recognizing this, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid spearheaded an initiative to provide incentives to health care providers for incorporating electronic medical records. This incentive program was classified as “meaningful use” and consisted of 3 stages, with financial incentives offered for implementation at each stage. The third and final stage was completed in 2014.
Shared
health data helps health care systems focus on patient care instead of
paperwork. The importance of enhancing the health data exchange among providers
led to an overhaul of the meaningful use program in 2019 and a new name: Promoting Interoperability (PI). There are 4 main
objectives of PI: e-prescribing, health information exchange, provider-to-patient
exchange, and public health and clinical data exchange. These measures also promote
an easier process for patients to electronically obtain a copy of the medical
records.