How well clinics, hospitals and other medical providers adopt EHR and Meaningful Use reporting into their recordkeeping may be the subject of new audit reviews conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), beginning as early as next year.

EHR Intelligence reports that the OIG is looking into the possibility of auditing providers based on how well they comply with EHR requirements, such as filing for reimbursement claims from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), or assessing the cyber security around a given provider's EHR software package.

"OIG's future planning efforts may consider the significant challenges that exist with respect to overseeing expenditures for health IT, the interoperability and effective sharing and use of health care data for medical care, and emergency preparedness and response," writes the OIG in an official agency statement. "We will perform audits of various covered entities receiving EHR incentive payments from CMS and their business associates, such as EHR cloud service providers, to determine whether they adequately protect electronic health information created or maintained by certified EHR technology." 

According to the OIG's work plan, the goal of these audits would be to ensure that — as EHR and Meaningful Use reporting becomes an increasingly integral (and mandatory component) for medical recordkeeping — providers are adequately complying with "regulatory requirements and contractual agreements." 

Implementing new EHR chiropractic software into a clinic or practice's administrative duties can not only ensure that physicians are complying with these industry regulations, but are also providing more readily accessible healthcare data, improved diagnoses for patients and even reduced costs.