Complete and accurate information. With electronic health records, providers have the information they need to provide the best possible care. Providers will know more about their patients and their health history before they walk into the examination room.

Better access to information. Electronic health records facilitate greater access to the information providers need to diagnose health problems earlier and improve the health outcomes of their patients. Electronic health records also allow information to be shared more easily among doctors’ offices, hospitals, and across health systems, leading to better coordination of care.

Patient empowerment. Electronic health records will help empower patients to take a more active role in their health and in the health of their families. Patients can receive electronic copies of their medical records and share their health information securely over the Internet with their families.

EHRs can make a patient’s health information available when and where it is needed – too often care has to wait because the chart is in one place and needed in another. EHRs enable clinicians secure access to information needed to support high quality and efficient care.

EHRs can bring a patient’s total health information together to support better health care decisions, and more coordinated care.

EHRs can support better follow-up information for patients – for example, after a clinical visit or hospital stay, instructions and information for the patient can be effortlessly provided and reminders for other follow-up care can be sent easily or even automatically to the patient.

EHRs can improve patient and provider convenience – patients can have their prescriptions ordered and ready even before they leave the provider’s office, and insurance claims can be filed immediately from the provider’s office.

Incentive Program for Electronic Health Records: Issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this final rule defines the minimum requirements that providers must meet through their use of certified EHR technology in order to qualify for the payments.

Standards and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Records: Issued by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, this rule identifies the standards and certification criteria for the certification of EHR technology, so eligible professionals and hospitals may be assured that the systems they adopt are capable of performing the required functions.

Request for Comment - Stage 2 Definition of Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) [PDF - 126 KB]: The Health IT Policy Committee is seeking comments on potential stage 2 measures from the public on a draft document of preliminary recommendations it has developed. To submit a comment electronically please visit the Regulations.gov web page. The comment period is open until 5 p.m., Eastern Time, February 25, 2011.  See recommendations and directions for submitting comments [PDF - 187 KB]. The Policy Committee will consider all of these comments in forming the stage 2 meaningful use recommendations it presents this summer to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.