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ChartLogic Team


Meaningful Use and Productivity: Not Mutually Exclusive

May 28, 2013


Clinician, EHR 2 Minute Read

A recent Deloitte survey found that 15 percent of physicians said they have no plans to adopt an EHR that is meaningful use certified. Why? Because of the impact on cost and productivity. There’s a common belief among physicians that meaningful use can’t be achieved without sacrificing productivity. Given the choice, a lot of practices would rather take the financial hit for not being meaningful use compliant so they can maintain their current productivity.

This is a valid concern—meaningful use requires effort from the entire staff, physicians included. Some of the requirements have little relevance to specialists (such as collecting blood pressure, weight, and height information), some require advanced technological capabilities (such as the ability to share patient information with other providers), and still others require patient involvement (such as their ability to view, download, and transmit records).

However, meaningful use and productivity don’t have to be mutually exclusive. With adequate planning and EHR vendor support, medical offices will be able to maintain their current productivity levels while bringing in government stimulus checks. Doctors today are using EHRs that are both easy to use and certified for meaningful use.

That being said, meaningful use isn’t a simple “feature” of EHR that you turn on and it does all the work for you. To truly reap the benefits of meaningful use, you must give yourself plenty of time to prepare. Who will collect the information? What templates can be used or created to make it easier to collect this data? How will you keep your staff up to speed on the meaningful use requirements? These are all questions that must be answered before committing to meaningful use. Most EHR vendors are experts on meaningful use and can help you every step of the way. With the right preparation, there is no reason you have to sacrifice productivity to be meaningful use compliant.

Like many good things in life, the maximum value of meaningful use is achieved when it is adequately prepared for. Thousands of doctors are demonstrating meaningful use with little impact to their workflow, and many ChartLogic users have even boosted their productivity by using ChartLogic EHR. If you have questions about meaningful use, give one of our meaningful use experts a call at 888-337-4441.



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