The Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA) has approved a position paper on the Medicare and Medicaid Programs’ Electronic Health Record Incentive Program, also known as meaningful use. The paper presents radiology’s historic commitment to health care information technology (HIT) through the development of and investment in PACS and RIS technologies.
The paper outlines the challenges for radiologists, including concerns such as the vast majority of current RIS/PACS products being unlikely to meet the regulatory definition of “certified EHR technology;” many hospitals pursing eligible hospital certification without regard to the needs of their eligible professionals; and the vast majority of the core and menu set objectives and clinical quality measures as currently written are not relevant to the specialty of radiology.
“The current meaningful use regulations lack objectives that are necessary for radiologists to participate as they are not reflective of radiology practice,” said Michael Bohl, RBMA’s president.
“We are hopeful this position paper will draw attention to radiology’s challenges with respect to meaningful use,” said Barbara Rubel, chair of the RBMA’s Federal Affairs Committee.
