Meaningful Use: Where Radiologists Stand

March 12, 2013

Are you attesting to the meaningful use of electronic health records? Here are the results of a survey of radiologists’ eligibility and participation.

Are you participating in the federal government’s meaningful use program for the use of certified electronic health record technology? To guide radiology professionals on the path and get a view of participation, Keith J. Dreyer, DO, FACR, FSIIM, a leading authority on meaningful use in radiology, developed a short survey.Here are the results from 328 respondents surveyed via DoYouMU.com, radiologyMU.org, and Diagnostic Imaging between December 1, 2012 and January 31, 2013. The survey is still available at DoYouMU.com, and results will be reported again in several months.Â Â Â

In this survey, 72 percent of radiology professionals say they are participating in CMS’s incentive program for the meaningful use of electronic health records.

Four out of 10 respondents have attested to meaningful use and received incentive payments. Of those, one out of four have been audited.

Fifty-eight percent of radiology professionals have more than half of their outpatient encounters at location(s) with certified EHR technology (CEHRT).

Eight out of 10 respondents can work with managers of their CEHRT to ensure the radiology department is included on meaningful use thresholddashboards. Of those that can’t work with CEHRT managers, 95 percent say they still wish to participate in the meaningful use program.

Of the one-third that are not currently participating in meaningful use, more than 91 percent are interested in doing so and two-thirds wish to betemporarily exempted from future penalties.