What Meaningful Use Means For You Now

In addition, remember that although the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology currently offers its own EHR certification, it is not necessarily going to be an official certifying body. "Right now, it is good to make the assumption that no EHR is certified," says Apgar.

But there are also plenty of tasks you can do now without your vendor that will help down the road, says Amatayakul. For example, you can circulate the proposed meaningful use measures among staff members to orient them as to what will be expected.

In addition, start to consider the level of effort and costs involved in upgrading, says Apgar. When calculating costs, don't forget to include staff disruption and training, not just the price tag on the upgrade. "Look at it from a total cost perspective," Apgar says. "Ask yourself, 'Is this really worth it to me right now?' And then look at budgeting. How are you going to pay for this? What is going to happen in terms of disruption of business? Will you need to bring in extra people?"

When you do decide to upgrade, don't forget the big picture—why you're doing it in the first place. As you update your system, that's also a great time to try to improve work flow or make process changes, Apgar says. You don't have to configure your upgraded system to the way you've been practicing medicine. "If you're going to make the investment, now is also the time for business process or clinical practice reengineering," he says.

Even without upgrading, many providers may be able to get better value out of their existing EHR technology. "We have an awful lot of people not using it as it could be used," Amatayakul says.