Meaningful Use: Perspectives from A Health System’s CIO

EHR Intelligence recently published an interview with Lee Roath, System CIO of Benefis Health Systems. The interview provides insight into the struggles that health systems face when implementing Meaningful Use requirements.

While Roath believes that meaningful use has “ensured greater safety” for the population his hospital represents, implementation costs have limited his organization’s ability to make other upgrades in the facility.

Roath states that his hospital’s experience with meaningful use has been challenging, stating that “the government doesn’t have a clue about what meaningful use really means.” He further explains that “some of the things you have to do to fit their standard mean nothing to our patients or our facility. It’s just meeting government rule.”

Working under the premise that meaningful use would be ultimately beneficial, Roath gained support for the program by promoting patient safety.  He states that healthcare will be greatly improved by systems that combine information from many sources—what he calls a “comprehensive package.” 

This system, he asserts would include information from nursing homes, oxygen companies, and ambulance companies.

HMS agrees that a comprehensive overview of public health—what we refer to as Community Health Surveillance—is essential as the country moves forward in collecting and monitoring data from EHRs. We encourage public health professionals interested in Community Health Surveillance to learn more about our perspective on it—and its many benefits—and how our EpiCenter system can help you to achieve this customizable level of surveillance.