What is meaningful use?

That is a bureaucrat's term to describe the operational requirements for an electronic health record; the physician is required to use the EHR, not to just possess it in order to avoid a reduction in Medicare payments.  The initial meaningful use requirements were announced in 2011.  The EHR must include an approved script of questions the physicians must ask and outline 12 designated areas of a physical exam for physicians to document.  The EHR software must have the ability to tabulate the number of questions completed by the doctor, the number of designated body areas examined, and the complexity of the visit so that the computer can designate how much the doctor should be paid for the day.  The EHR must have a prescription management system and electronic prescribing as part of its features.   Eventually, the EHR must be "interconnective with other health care providers", in other words, written in a format that permits each doctor's database to share patient information with the computers of other doctors' offices, hospitals, laboratories, and radiology facilities.  The EHR must utilize the internet to provide government access for research purposes.  The EHR must have an internet patient access portal so patients can look up their laboratory reports within 72 hours after receipt in the doctor's computer.  The laboratory data must be posted in graphic and tabular format.  The EHR must contain a feature for patients to view and edit their medical information.  Additional requirements for meaningful use are sure to follow.