MIMA ACHIEVES STAGE ONE OF “MEANINGFUL USE” IN HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY
MIMA,Brevard County Florida’s largest independent physician group, today announced that it has met Stage One of “Meaningful Use” objectives for implementing electronic health records (EHR) as set by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. Achieving Meaningful Use is a major milestone that recognizes the commitment made by MIMA to use electronic medical records for the ultimate benefit in patient care.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the final rules of Meaningful Use in the summer of 2010 to help improve Americans’ health, increase safety and reduce health care costs through expanded use of electronic health records (EHR). This includes a five-year national program to adopt and use EHR in the healthcare community.
“We pride ourselves in demonstrating market leadership in quality of care initiatives such as Meaningful Use,” says Al O’Connell, Chief Administration Officer of MIMA. “MIMA will continue to utilize the benefits of technology to easily provide information to patients about their care and supply timely information to their physicians.” O’Connell cites a recent example of this in the addition of a Patient Access Link (PAL) to the company website (mima.com) to allow patients to review test results and important components of their medical record. “Soon they will be able to schedule their own office visits on line,” adds O’Connell.
After the first year of eligibility only a small fraction of physician practices actually qualified for meaningful use nationwide. Melbourne-based MIMA stands in stark contrast to this statistic having been well ahead of the legislation by making it a priority nearly a decade ago to establish innovative technologies like electronic medical records for efficient operations and patient care.
MIMA’s Chief Information Officer Gary Wright says electronic health records are in keeping with MIMA’s patient-centered focus. “MIMA's visionary leadership chose to develop a leading edge technology infrastructure with electronic health record as its foundation -- providing an enhanced patient experience in our integrated healthcare delivery system. The operational efficiencies are a vital component in keeping healthcare affordable."