So what is “meaningful use” and when will we know what the process to be a certified EHR system will be? These two critically important questions were left largely unanswered by Dr. David Blumenthal during his keynote address to the CHIME Fall Forum 2009 this past week in Palm Springs. Hundreds of attendees – largely CIO’s, CMIO’s, and IT related vendors that support the CHIME Foundation – were left to ponder the non-answers and to speculate what the uncertainty will mean to their organization’s future direction.
As the Obama Administration’s front man for ARRA, one would have hoped for more. These are the colleagues in the industry that helped propel his healthcare career to the prominence that he currently enjoys. Why worry? Oh, I don’t know, maybe because patient lives and the financial future of physicians and hospitals lay in the balance. These ballyhooed payment incentives represent real money and are critically important for the future and that by extension includes the economy as healthcare.
So how could a physician not share the diagnosis, establish a prognosis, or describe any treatment regimen for those hanging on the results of their metaphorical work-up or test results? Do no harm. See one, do one, teach one.
Government, heal thyself!
Kevin Burchill, Esq.,
Director,
Beacon Partners

