How Do You Have To Be To Apply For Medicare

- welcome to cms ehealth! electronic health records--or ehrs, for short--allow you to record and share patientinformation electronically, instead of on paper. the potential benefits of ehrsinclude getting patients more

How Do You Have To Be To Apply For Medicare, involved in theirown health care... improving the coordinationof care... making health care saferand more efficient... reducing health disparities...

and in the end, improving health for everyone. to help more providers getup and running with their own ehrs, cms has createdthe medicare and medicaid ehr incentive programs. we believe that if moreproviders use ehrs, we can improve health care. so how do you get started? it's pretty simple.

if you are an eligibleprofessional, an eligible hospital, or a critical accesshospital, you can take the first step by adoptingcertified ehr technology. certified ehr technologymeans that an ehr system meets a certain minimum standardand captures and stores data in a structured way. it's easy to find out whichehr systems and modules have received an official stampof approval and qualify for the incentive programs.

just visit the certifiedhealth it product list, found on www.healthit.gov. let's say you've purchasedcertified ehr technology and put it into use. so far, so good. now, to qualify for theincentive payment, you need to demonstrate meaningful use. simply put, you need to showyou are using your ehr to improve care in waysthat can be measured.

in the ehr incentive programs,there are three stages of meaningful use. each one has benchmarks thatprogress, like the rungs on a ladder, to help providersget closer to improving health outcomes. at each stage, you candemonstrate meaningful use by meeting certain criteria...like providing your prescriptions electronically,or recording valuable information aboutpatients, such as vital signs

and smoking status. some of these meaningful userequirements put the focus on the patient, and how ehrslet them better interact with their providersor their care plan... that includes things likegetting an electronic reminder for follow-up care. other meaningful userequirements focus on you, the provider, and how ehrs canhelp you make more informed decisions, deliver bettercare, or collaborate

with other providers. the ehr incentive programs offerincentive payments for you... and benefits foryour patients, in the form of better care. to learn more about theseprograms, please visit the cms ehr website to get started.