Meaningful Use and Hospital IT Careers

Meaningful Use was introduced in 2009, and as a result, a number of new medical IT careers were created. Meaningful Use was a part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and was put in place to encourage providers to use electronic health records, or EHRs.

If a health care provider demonstrated “meaningful use” of EHR’s, they would be eligible to receive incentive payments. The purpose of this program is to promote the use of EHR’s, thus streamlining the patient health record process, improving patient care, and lowering costs. To qualify for the incentive payments, eligible health care providers need to start using EHRs, and also show “meaningful use” of them.

So what does this mean for jobs in the healthcare industry? Well, as a result of the program, new jobs have been created to help monitor, facilitate, and improve the way that medical records are handled. Below we have compiled a list of some of the exciting new jobs that have been created as a result of meaningful use and the rise of digitized medical records.

EHR Meaningful Use Business Analyst

• The meaningful use business analyst performs a variety of very important functions. The first of which is to be abreast on the rules and regulations regarding meaningful use, and to put those into functional applications. Creating meaningful use objectives and crafting a plan of action, as well as implementing and reporting on these objectives, are the primary job functions of the analyst.

Clinical Application Trainers

• A clinical application trainer is a hospital IT professional who works with the analysts as well as the doctors and nurses who will be using the applications. They perform instructional sessions in the classroom as well as working side-by-side with the users of the applications to ensure that they are used properly. These trainers can been seen on hospital floors wearing green vests and assisting doctors and nurses when a new technology is released.

Meaningful Use Specialist

• Similar to a meaningful use analysts, a specialist must stay on top of the latest technology and ensure that they are properly implementing new applications. However, a meaningful use specialist has a high focus on the communication between physicians and providers regarding the implementation of meaningful use. The communication extends to working directly with healthcare executives and end users to ensure workflow efficiency. Identifying enhancement opportunities and workflow improvements are highly important requirements of a meaningful use specialist.

Registered Health Information Technician

• A Registered Health Information Technician or RHIT is an IT professional in the healthcare field who is in charge of verifying the quality of medical records and verifying accuracy. Entering the EHRs into the computer system and analyzing the records for efficiency and cost control are two of the primary responsibilities of RHITs. Maintaining the records and ensuring accuracy are highly important for meaningful use incentive payments. RHITs can work in hospitals, private practices and other healthcare facilities that hold electronic health records.

Thanks to the advancements in healthcare technology, there is an abundance of new healthcare and hospital jobs coming available each year. These new, highly specialized jobs require applicants to be on the cutting edge of healthcare technology. Be sure to check out our vast database of health information technology jobs, and see what is available in your desired area!