Video Blog: Siemens exec wrestles with 'meaningful use'

The Federal government is pushing medical practitioners toward the use of integrated electronic information systems. The hope is that these systems will improve the efficiency of medical care and reduce errors, thereby cutting costs and improving healthcare. The promise of reimbursement for the use of these systems is the incentive for care providers to adopt them. But semantics could get in the way. The need for “certified” systems that demonstrate “meaningful use” is a key requisite for reimbursement. But, as Janet Dillione, president of Health Services in the Healthcare IT division of Siemens Medical Solutions, noted at HIMSS2009, nobody is exactly sure how systems will be certified or what will constitute “meaningful use”. Where and how medical imaging IT, such as radiology information systems, will fit is anybody’s guess.