Certification for Meaningful Use – Protecting Patient Information
Thanks to all the attention that the health care industry and health insurance companies are getting in the United States right now, many people think that it is only recently that health related organizations have become an important part of our society. However, the Boston Public Health Commission is proof that Americans have been interested in improving the public’s access to healthy life choices and medicines for several hundred years. Now the Commission is a great example of the way that technology can be successfully employed to provide more affordable and efficient health care to Americans.
In case you’re not really sure what is meant by certification for meaningful use, you should know that although there will be many benefits of a central electronic database containing a longitudinal record of patients’ health history, conditions and treatments, it will also mean that many pieces of personal and even confidential information will be available for viewing by health care professionals all over the world. This could be an issue of concern, which is why there must be a rule determined which kinds of technology are meaningful.
Of course, if the use of electronic medical histories becomes widespread in this country, many software and information technology companies will be clamoring to offer programs, applications, and online tools to hospitals and doctors which they can use for this purpose. That’s why it is important that a certification for meaningful use is determined before then, so that health care providers will be able to ascertain which products and tools are best for their responsible use of this information.
As a patient, you should be concerned about the ways that a certification for meaningful use is determined. Privacy and protection of your personal information is important, especially where your medical needs are concerned. The technology that is used for this purpose must be accessible, yet very secure. However, before anyone can really come up with a certification that will work well, it is necessary for the federal government to reveal an understandable, clear definition of what exactly meaningful use is. This will allow both patients and physicians to be more critical when examining information sharing tools and technology in the years to come.
