Accountable care organizations are largely expected to bring much greater efficiency and cost savings to the healthcare system. New rules for these groups issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicate that these improvements will largely be achieved through the meaningful use of electronic health records.
The rules will apply to practices that treat Medicare or Medicaid patients and plan on participating in the CMS Shared Savings Programs, which sets up reimbursement rules for accountable care organizations.
The new rules indicate that electronic health records will be important in this system, as they will allow a greater continuity of care, regardless of where patients seek services. Electronic systems will also offer decision support, which is expected to figure prominently in the model of care.
The statement detailing these rules said that they closely mirror the meaningful use rules for the CMS electronic health records incentive program.
"As existing and new organizations with disparate health IT systems and provider organizations create partnerships that enable coordinated care, health information exchange solutions will play a pivotal role in breaking down today’s information silos," Mark Segal, vice president for government and industry affairs for GE Healthcare Information Technology, told Government Health IT.