Meaningful Use Eludes Radiologists

Six out of 10 radiologists plan to use electronic health records and achieve "meaningful use" standards, but only 6 percent think they have a good understanding of what meaningful use means, a new study shows.

Nearly 40 percent of 216 radiologists surveyed by the health-care vendor consulting firm KLAS said they either don't understand federal meaningful use guidelines or they worry that the use of EHRs could create new inefficiencies.

"These numbers should be a wake-up call for the radiology industry," said Emily Crane, research director for KLAS and author of the study, "Radiologists' Take on Meaningful Use," conducted by KLAS and the Radiological Society of North America.

The results are disappointing because most radiologists are eligible for "some or all" of the $44,000 incentive available to health-care providers that achieve EHR meaningful use, Crane said. She noted that providers will be penalized if they don't achieve meaningful use by 2015.

Some of the respondents said they did not believe current meaningful-use guidelines take radiology into consideration. They argued for including clinical decision support, especially for referring physicians, to ensure the correct imaging test is ordered, KLAS said in a news release.

Radiologists were unenthusiastic about giving patients the ability to access electronic records or to track radiation doses, according to the release.