Health Information Exchange Blog
Views on EHR adoption from CompTIA Conference
I attended CompTIA’s Breakaway in San Antonio last week, and I was very impressed by the number of vendors and resellers who are gearing up to work within the healthcare vertical. This will be a great benefit to small ambulatory practices. Many of our clients in this space are looking for exactly what a reseller can bring – that is, one-stop shopping for both a software solution and the necessary hardware, peripherals and ongoing support. Obviously, we feel that working with a vendor neutral consultant like Hielix is important in order to ensure a practice gets the very best fit and performance from its selected software solution, but when the time comes to solicit a demo, we gravitate to local resellers who can offer all of these services.
On the closing day of Breakaway, I spoke about healthcare IT, which was summed up well by blogger Liz Walker here: http://lizwalk.wordpress.com/. Also, we will be posting selected excerpts from my presentation our website later this week.
New Rules on Meaningful Use Announced
As was expected, the final rules on Meaningful Use and EMR implementation were announced at 10am this morning. (see press release for details).
There are no quick-fix, technology-driven solutions for EMR adoption by physician practices, as demonstrated by this massive document of rules and regulations.
Medicare Reimbursements and Impacts on Electronic Health Records
What will it mean to ambulatory physician practices now that the Medicare reimbursement rate has been reduced? I don't believe that anyone anticipated Congress would adjourn without having addressed the legislated reduction in Medicare. The necessity of redressing the healthcare reform bill and the overall contentious climate of Congress contributed to the situation healthcare providers now face. It will undoubtedly now be more difficult for ambulatory physicians to consider and address the adoption of healthcare IT and electronic health records given the immediate and dramatic reduction in reimbursements. While the HITECH Act was designed to support and foster significant improvements in healthcare outcomes achieved through the application of technology, the fact of the matter remains that many small practices will be challenged to meet basic cash flow requirements. Unfortunately, this impacts all ambulatory physicians, but especially primary care providers.
As we interact regularly with physicians we are acutely aware of the challenges that they face. We often hear doctors question their decision to enter this field -- in particular those engaged in primary care. While all physicians provide critically important services, the vast majority of healthcare is delivered through primary care practices. As long as economic pressure continues to reduce the ability of these physicians to engage clinically with their patients in an environment that allows sufficient time and focus, we will compromise our overall health. And as long as economic pressure continues to reduce payment of a reasonable wage to our physicians, we will continue to compromise our overall health.
Electronic Health Record Software and Certification
As we continue working closely with physician practices I am becoming concerned about what I’m hearing. Some practices that are already using electronic health record software falsely believe they are prepared and qualified to receive stimulus funds under the HITECH act. The reality is that every practice must demonstrate Meaningful Use of a certified EHR. Currently, only a handful of vendors have received certification, and the overall certification rules are not yet fully defined. Consequently, many of these practices already enjoying the benefits of electronic health records may not qualify for stimulus payments.
Certainly many of the established EHR vendors will ultimately achieve full certification from the ONC designated bodies. However, there is risk that some of these vendors that currently have an economically viable installed base will not achieve certification. There is risk for all physician practices whether or not they have adopted electronic health record technology. Those that have already put software tools in place should conduct a gap analysis to determine if there are deficiencies between their current system and the requirements of CMS for Meaningful Use. Simply having technology in place is not enough. You have to be able to demonstrate its use – which means you must have planned for how it interacts with your practice’s workflow and operations ahead of installation. It would be foolhardy (not to mention costly) to wait until 2012 to examine what will be necessary for your practice to receive the stimulus payments.
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