It is a concept which has been heavily influencing IT investment planning by care providers in the United States: “Meaningful Use”. In the context of this approach, and based on a set of criteria, federal subsidies are provided for the implementation of healthcare IT applications which enable significant and measurable improvements in the quality of care. From 2015, providers that have not adopted, e.g., an electronic health record in compliance with the Meaningful Use definition will be subject to financial penalties under the U.S. Medicare scheme. – Policymakers in various countries are observing these developments closely.
How is Meaningful Use impacting radiology IT in the United States? Emily Crane (›Fig. 1); Research Director with the U.S. market research organization KLAS, headed up a research study on this topic. At the recent RSNA conference in Chicago, she presented initial findings,“Right now”, said the expert, the question about any impact on radiology IT is “difficult to answer given that so few of the respondents we spoke with have gotten very far in their efforts to achieve Meaningful Use. Largely, right now there is confusion in radiology about what steps they will be responsible to take and who [referring to vendors] will be able to assist them.” The radiologists whom researchers interviewed are having a difficult time understanding how the current Meaningful Use requirements can be mapped to radiology practice.
What results, very concretely, did the research project show? “The results are pretty clear that most radiologists are very concerned about Meaningful Use”, explained Crane; “but few consider themselves very educated in Meaningful Use. Another finding … of note is that most radiologists are on board to make changes and improvements to their practice, but most are having a difficult time pushing the current … requirements – which are more primary care focused – into their practice. Many of the requirements”, added the researcher, “take quite a stretch to see in radiology”.
What are the lessons Europeans can learn? “I think that the lessons everyone can learn is that it's important to involve all departments in a hospital in any decisions or criteria that will impact the entire hospital”, underlined Crane. “In the instance of radiology, it is a department that impacts the hospital a great deal.”