Meaningful Use: Does Physician Participation Move the Needle on Quality Metrics?

To determine the association between pattern of participation in the Meaningful Use (MU) initiative and self-reported clinical quality metrics.

We used state-level Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive program data to categorize physicians based on receipt of MU payments (single year vs. multiple years) and self-reported quality metrics from 2011 to 2016.

Among 4,198 participating physicians, only 36% received more than one EHR incentive payment. Physicians participating for a single year had better cancer-screening metrics. By comparison, physicians who participated for multiple years reported better medication-related metrics and chronic disease management metrics.

Nature of participation may have varying degrees of influence on types of clinical quality metrics. Sustained participation may support management of chronic conditions. Administrative claims data will help to elucidate our findings.