CMS Sets New Bar at 50% for Online Access to Health Records

13 May 2016

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) along with Meaningful Use Stage II has raised the bar again regarding online access to health records. With Meaningful Use Stage II now set as the new standard for Electronic Health Records (EHR) compliance, healthcare providers are being required to increase the percentage of patients that access their heath records online.

Stage II of the High-tech Act went into full swing on January 1, 2014. New requirements make your doctor responsible for ensuring that a minimum of 50% of all his/her patients login and check their health records. The move to encourage the adoption of electronic health records (EHR) began in 2009. Since the release of the High-tech act, the number of patient health records stored electronically has grown into the hundreds of millions. The effort by the federal government is in the belief that by increasing the use of electronic technology, the healthcare system will save billions by connecting these electronic health records while at the same time improving the quality of patient care.

Doctors that are participating in the High-tech Act have been given financial incentives to -federal government has already provided hundreds of millions of dollars to help doctors automate their medical clinics. The end result is keeping patients better informed and getting all patients involved with their health records. It only takes a few minutes each month to logon and check the status of your health records. All patients should make checking their health records online a priority at least once a month.

Online access to health records provides the first step in getting patients involved with managing their health in the electronic world. In order to help control the rising costs of healthcare, the government is encouraging patients to get involved with managing their health records to ensure that the clinical data recorded is accurate.

ViewMyHealthRecords.com provides the technology patients need to securely access their health records. All data is encrypted until it is displayed for the patient online. If you currently do not have access to your health records then have your doctor contact ViewMyHealthRecords.com today.