Meaningful Use for Health Plans: Five Things to Consider

Author:

Jordan Battani

The healthcare industry challenges of successfully using health information technology (HIT) to improve patient care, healthcare quality and clinical outcomes emerged as a matter of national policy with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in 2009.  The HITECH provisions of ARRA make an explicit connection between the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) and the transformation of healthcare for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries -- earmarking billions of dollars of federal stimulus money for payments to providers and hospitals who successfully implement and use HIT.  At first glance there appears to be much less at stake in the HITECH provisions and in demonstrating meaningful use for the payer sector of healthcare and health plans, and payers are likely to be far more concerned with the business challenges posed by healthcare industry reforms and the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act).  However, there is a strong argument to be made that the success of long term healthcare reform and the promotion and meaningful use of HIT are linked together.  Artificially separating the issues is a luxury that health plans and payers cannot afford.  As the details of healthcare reform begin to take on a clearer definition, the linkages between “meaningful use,” HIT, coverage reform and payer industry business practice reforms are becoming more explicit.  Healthcare reform and the ongoing transformation of the healthcare industry are raising the stakes for the payer sector when it comes to successful implementation of EHRs and the demonstration of meaningful use.

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