Late in the day on February 23, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the preliminary rules for Stage 2 Meaningful Use.  For those not deep in the weeds of Health Information Technology policy jargon, “Meaningful Use” is the federal standard for eligible physicians and hospitals to receive incentives through Medicare and Medicaid for adopting and using an Electronic Health Record. So why is this important?  Well, first, a little bit of background.  Just about three years ago, Congress passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and set aside nearly $30 billion for direct incentives for providers to start using EHRs.

UpToDate is one of the most widely used computerized clinical knowledge management systems in the nation. The authors found a very small but consistent association between use of UpToDate and reduced length of stay, lower risk-adjusted mortality rates, and better quality performance, at least in the smaller, non-teaching institutions. These findings may suggest that computerized tools such as UpToDate could be helpful in improving care