Mostashari: 'Breathtaking Progress' on EHR Front

The results of the health IT incentive program aimed at driving the adoption of electronic health records by hospitals and physicians have been "breathtaking," Farzad Mostashari, MD, asserted in his keynote address at HIMSS12 on Thursday. "We've made more progress in two years than we've made in 20," said Mostashari, national coordinator for health information technology.

He predicted that by next year, the majority of care providers would be doing their work electronically – and not on paper. “Medicare is leading, but so are the states, so are the private health plans,” he said. “We want to reduce readmissions – there’s an intervention for that. There are interventions for improving quality and they are all part of meaningful use. Making meaningful use of meaningful use can be the road for providers to thrive.

"We’re on track to exceed 100,000 providers a year,” he said, about physicians attesting to the meaningful use of health IT.