As the manager or owner of a thriving medical practice, you may already have some experience using electronic heath record software to streamline workflow at your facility, cut down on errors and improve patient care.

Many medical practices have been making an effort to demonstrate Meaningful Use with certified electronic health record software in order to receive financial incentives from the Medicaid and Medicare programs.

The following is an excerpt from the ebook, "The Complete Guide to Electronic Health Records Software". The ebook covers a variety of information pertaining to EHR software, including vendor stability, common mistakes made during implementation, and how meaningful use can help your practice.

Here is a sneak peek into our whitepaper, "The Beginner's Guide to EHR Meaningful Use."

When trying to qualify for incentive payments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), it is not enough for a provider to demonstrate eligibility for the program and to attest that they are using approve electronic medical records (EHR) software. In order to receive CMS incentive payments, providers must show Meaningful Use (MU) of health information technology. Meaningful use refers to the standards and requirements established by CMS for providers to show that they are using EHR to collect relevant patient health information, sharing it with other providers, and using the information to improve patient health outcomes.

Here is a sneak peek into our whitepaper, "The Beginner's Guide to EHR Meaningful Use."

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.