title: Meaningful use: participating in the federal incentive program.
abstract: Meaningful use legislation was first introduced in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as a multistaged program to incentivize adoption of electronic health record technology. Since that time, numerous eligible providers and eligible hospitals have captured incentive payments by installing certified electronic health record technology and capturing and reporting on key elements for patients whose health records are stored in an electronic format. Although the question of whether radiologists should participate in the program was initially debated, the evidence is now clear that lack of participation leaves a significant amount of money at risk. This article provides an overview of how the program is structured, what technology needs to be installed, the necessary data elements to capture in an electronic format, and how radiologists can effectively participate in the program to capture their maximum incentive payment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia. Electronic address: ak8jj@virginia.edu.
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krishnaraj
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee; and Enterprise Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Adeel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.affiliation: University Radiology Group, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, East Brunswick, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goldszal
mesh_terms: D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006078:Government Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D033161:Government Regulation; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000592:standards*; D062527:Meaningful Use / Q000592:standards*; D008498:Medical Record Linkage / Q000592:standards*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011871:Radiology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States
keywords: Meaningful use; electronic health record; eligible provider; stage 1