​Meaningful Use, as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is a set of standards governing the use of electronic health records. Meaningful Use aims to improve the quality of vital public health data and expedite health data exchange among health practitioners, hospitals, health agencies, patients and other partners in the nation’s healthcare system. Ultimately patients will have access to an electronic health record, with digital copies of their personal health information.

Implementation of Meaningful Use is stage 2 of a 3-stage process . Stage 2 objectives for public health agencies include successful ongoing submission of:

  • Electronic immunization data to an immunization registry or immunization information system (mandatory for eligible hospitals and professionals)
  • Electronic syndromic surveillance data to a public health agency (mandatory for eligible hospitals/optional for eligible professionals)
  • Electronic reportable laboratory results to a public health agency (mandatory for eligible hospitals)
  • Cancer cases to a cancer registry (optional for eligible professionals)
  • Specific case information to a specialized registry other than a cancer registry (optional for eligible professionals)

 State Public Health Agencies

State public health agencies are strongly encouraged to support stage 2 Meaningful Use objectives to respond faster and more effectively to public health events
To assist Meaningful Use partners to find information on state public health agencies’ readiness to receive electronic data, APHL has compiled a list of the stage 2 objectives they support.

For more information, contact Vanessa Holley, manager, Informatics Policy and Member Outreach.