In addition to the government's meaningful use rules, healthcare providers may have a new set of guidelines to ensure that they are adopting technology to its fullest potential.
The National Quality Forum, a nonprofit group dedicated to improving the quality of care, recently published two separate reports that offer tips for how providers can use health IT to support their clinical decisions and improve patient safety and care quality.
"These reports provide a tremendous foundation for future work in clinical decision support and for understanding the impact of health IT tools on care delivery," said CEO and president Janet Corrigan. "It also lays the groundwork for what kind of standards and certification criteria should be considered and put into practice for health IT use measures."
When used alongside the government's meaningful use rules, the new reports could ensure that providers are using technology to promote efficiency and increase quality. Industry analysts say that these benefits could revolutionize the healthcare industry, but it can only happen if providers are using technology intelligently.