Heubusch (2009), defining meaningful use is important because "it triggers $17 billion in Medicare and Medicaid incentives for the adoption of electronic health record systems." According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "providers will reap benefits beyond financial incentives -- such as reduction in errors, availability of records and data, reminders and alerts, clinical decision support, and e-prescribing/refill automation." Standards defining meaningful use of EMS technologies must be set for ethical, legal, and fiscal reasons. Therefore, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) published a series of white papers on the issue.

The nine-part AHIMA white paper series begins with a poorly written overview that does not provide a working definition of terms, offer meaningful use criteria, or any other pertinent data for that matter. Only four pages long, the "Overview of the Meaningful Use Final Rule" is practically useless. The second white paper is five pages...
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