Meeting Meaningful Use Criteria and Managing Patient Populations

BACKGROUND: Meaningful use, as defined by the Centers for Medicare fewer than one half of respondents reported the presence of computerized systems for any of the patient population management tasks included in the survey. Physicians with such functionalities reported that these systems varied in ease of use. Physicians with an EHR that met meaningful use criteria were significantly more likely than those not meeting the standard to rate panel management tasks as easy. LIMITATION: Ease-of-use measures are subjective. CONCLUSION: Few physicians could meet meaningful use criteria in early 2012 and using computerized systems for the panel management tasks was difficult. Results support the growing evidence that using the basic data input capabilities of an EHR does not translate into the greater opportunity that these technologies promise. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Commonwealth Fund and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.