Feds urged to dial-up care coordination goals

Healthcare providers who already use electronic health records urged a federal health IT advisory panel last week to add more goals for improving patient care coordination into the meaningful use financial incentive plan.

These include sharing information about the medications that they prescribe their patients and merging them into their electronic records as patients obtain treatment from multiple physicians. The resulting medication reconciliation will improve coordination of care and patient safety by avoiding duplication and potential adverse drug effects, according to one of the physicians testifying at August 5 meeting of the Health IT Policy Committee's meaningful use work group.