Federal health officials need to expand incentives for adopting Stage 3 Meaningful Use criteria for electronic health records to long-term care operators, a provider group demands in a new report. Currently, the incentives are available only to acute-care operators. “[Long-term care] providers assess patients in a range of areas, including skin integrity, gait, fall risk, ambulation, cognitive function, mood, and nutritional status. The ability to continually assess and track the progress of clinically significant events, such as the skin breakdown and care of pressure ulcers, is vital,” report authors write. The report was based on an earlier meeting between long-term care providers and officials from the federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
