Following the success of the meaningful use program in 2011, national coordinator for health IT Farzad Mostashari is predicting that the year ahead will be even bigger for the adoption of electronic health records and other technologies.

Mostashari wrote in the ONC's Health IT Buzz blog that he believes 100,000 more physicians will receive incentive payments through the Medicare or Medicaid meaningful use program in 2012. This is in addition to the 20,000 eligible professionals who started receiving incentive payments last year.

The importance of this cannot be understated, Mostashari said, because getting more physicians to adopt EHRs and other key health IT tools will play an important role in the ability of physicians to deliver top-quality care, both now and in the future.

"We might call it the necessary foundation upon which to build a truly 21st century health system where care is better coordinated, patient-centered, safer and where we pay for the right care, not just more care," Mostashari wrote. "Successfully attesting to Meaningful Use will not by itself achieve these goals, but it does help ensure providers have the right information at the right time."