What Impact will Meaningful Use Stage III have on your Health Records?

13 May 2016

Meaningful Use (MU) is the government program that provides incentive payments to eligible providers that meet specific criteria when implementing certified electronic health records (EHR). Providers currently meet either Stage 1 or Stage 2 criteria, depending on their implementation timeline.

On March 20, 2015, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking for Stage 3. At the same time, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) also released its proposed 2015 edition for EHR certification criteria. The big question is how this rule will affect patients in terms of accessing their health records online?

The goal of MU Stage 3 is to encourage more patients to access their health records online and become more involved with their overall health. Physicians would be required to educate their patients in terms of how beneficial accessing their health records online would be in their overall care.

The new rules call for the following:

Physicians would need to provide more than 25% of patients with access to their own records
Physicians would need to collect patient-generated health data for more than 15% of patients
Physicians would need to offer secure messaging between patients and providers for more than 35% of patients

As the leading healthcare technology provider in providing online access to health records, physicians trust ViewMyHealthRecords.com to provide the online access patients require to access their health records online. To learn how you can access your health records online have your healthcare provider contact ViewMyHealthRecords.com.