Meaningful Use
From a quick read of the summary in HealthcareITNews (http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/eligible-provider-meaningful-use-criteria), most of the 25 MD-specific criteria look doable as they are implicit in most users' day-to-day use of their EHR's.
The couple that look challenging to me are providing patients with "timely electronic access" to their health information (10% threshold) and providing clinical summaries to patients for each office visit (80% threshold).
On electronic access to patients, while a patient portal is an option in many EHR's, it is an added expense to the practice. Setting a lower performance benchmark of 10% for this doesn't lessen the cost. And installing the module isn't just a matter of paying for it - any time one adds a component to the EHR, things can go wrong, as all of us know. This would seem more appropriate as a later stage requirement.
To generate a clinical summary at each office visit, if defined as a summary of that visit, would be difficult, since, contrary to the sales pitches, I suspect most EHR users don't have their office note complete when the patient walks out of the exam room. Perhaps the source document better defines what this criterion defines as a "clinical summary" and what the intended time frame is. If "summary" refers to a list of diagnoses, meds, orders, and instructions, then it would be easier to achieve.
ACP's comments on meaningful use are available at http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/where_we_stand/health_information_technology/meaningfulehr.pdf
Using an EHR? Yes - eClinicalWorks
Disclosure: Shareholder of Coastal Medical, Inc.
Rules on Electronic Records Could Burden Practices
ACP points out potential pitfalls in proposed federal guidelines
The federal government's proposed guidelines for what constitutes "meaningful use" of electronic health records technology are overly complex and too time-consuming for most practices to implement by 2011, according to an analysis by the American College of Physicians.
Remainder of article at following link:
http://www.healthbanks.com/PatientPortal/MyPractice.aspx?UAID={A830907D-8345-4AA5-A0D5-F8776BBC08BB}&TabID={X}&ArticleID=637591
Using an EHR? Yes - eClinicalWorks
Disclosure: Shareholder of Coastal Medical, Inc.
I just found this summary of "meaningful use" from the Missouri Hospital Association:
http://web.mhanet.com/userdocs/articles/HIT/cms_onc_meaningfuluse_ehr_jan410.pdf
Using an EHR? Yes - eClinicalWorks
Disclosure: Shareholder of Coastal Medical, Inc.