Meaningful use: Floor or ceiling?

Background: In 2011, federal incentive payments for meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) began. This study evaluates the impact of the program on hospitals and EHR vendors, identifying how it affects EHR planning and development. Specifically, it assesses whether vendors and Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are viewing the meaningful use requirements as a floor - the minimally acceptable level of implementation, upon which development continues - or as a ceiling - the upper-bound on EHR development and implementation.

A four-country survey of public attitudes towards restricting healthcare costs by limiting the use of high-cost medical interventions.

Objective: To discern how the public in four countries, each with unique health systems and cultures, feels about efforts to restrain healthcare costs by limiting the use of high-cost prescription drugs and medical/surgical treatments.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Adult populations in Germany, Italy, the UK and the USA.