Stage 2 meaningful use is the second phase of the incentive program for electronic health records (EHRs). It calls on all hospitals, physicians and medical care providers to increase the interoperability of all health information and adopt standardized formats. It is a giant leap forward towards the secure exchange of medical information between patients and providers. Having the right information regarding a patient is a matter of life and death. The successful operability of stage 1 has led to the advancements towards the development of stage 2.

Establishing or updating to new EHR software can be a daunting task for many practices. Fortunately, Medicare and Medicaid offer an incentive program designed to ease the burden of cost for medical professionals who make 'Meaningful Use' out of the software. Of course, in order to receive the incentive, understanding what Meaningful Use is, how to demonstrate it, what the process is, and related terms is vital to successfully qualify.

Quality patient care often begins and ends with paperwork. EHR software can eliminate the hassle, increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve satisfaction in an environmentally sound way. Patients gain greater access to their care team and are less likely to face challenges stemming from transcription mistakes.

Adopting Electronic Health Records Electronic health records (EHR) refer to data about a person or a population's health status stored in a digital format for convenient access and amendment. One prominent example of electronic health records are medical histories, while radiology information systems comprise a slightly more obscure example. The adoption of electronic health records helps improve the quality of care for patients and can lower costs for the medical practice using those systems.