Prepare now for Stage 2 Meaningful Use while doing Stage 1

Why This Topic Matters

It helps practices understand which broad areas of electronic health record adoption tend to require the most preparation, so they can plan for future interoperability, patient access, and vendor-related workflow changes before stage 2 deadlines.

Article Sections

1. Meaningful use stage 1 deferments and stage 2 implications

   Summarizes CMS data on which broad categories of menu objectives were commonly deferred during stage 1 and explains why those deferred areas become important in the next stage.

2. Preparing for stage 2: vendor, workflow, and portal planning

   Discusses practice-level preparation topics such as vendor upgrades, contract review, patient engagement planning, and readiness for electronic exchange capabilities.

3. Getting your Patients to connect

   Focuses on patient-facing engagement strategies, including portal adoption efforts and ways practices can encourage patients to interact with electronic records.

4. Interoperability and exchange with outside organizations

   Addresses the broader challenge of information exchange with external entities such as laboratories and public health organizations, including operational considerations for meeting future requirements.