Physicians, Electronic Medical Records, Stimulus & Barriers

Doctors and Physicians Must Adopt Electronic Health Records by 2014:
Stimulus Incentive Funds to ease the Primary Barrier to Entry: Cost

By Doug Wallace, Executive VP, EMR Business Development Solutions


The passage of the American Recover and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) contains provisions under Health Information Technology, Title XIII, that will attempt to bring order and ease the cost of healthcare delivery in the US. Healthcare costs are cited at $2.4 Trillion annually, with estimates claiming one-quarter of these funds are wasted in medical documentation errors, unnecessary procedures and duplicate paper based records.

Doctors will receive incentive payments for “going electronic” and adopting Electronic Medical Records (EMR) starting in 2011. Incentives will drop each year, resulting in penalties for non-EMR adoption after 2014.

To qualify, a EMR must meet the criteria outlined by CCHIT (Certification Committee for Health Information Technology) and demonstrate “meaningful use”, which can be summed up to be compliant with e-Prescribing, interoperability between disparate EMR systems and the ability to provide need reports. A final definition of “meaningful use” is due to be finalized by spring 2010, notwithstanding an ensuing 60 day comment period.

Though cost and a basic understanding of incentives/penalties remains an obstacle to EMR adoption, a recent report claims that interrupting a medical practice’s current workflow and abandoning a well entrenched paper based office is of major concern to doctors, physicians and medical office staffs.

Incentives come in many forms when confronted with the mandate to switch from paper to Electronic Medical Records. Not to be overlooked is the surging expectations of patients that will demand the convenience and practicality which EMRs offer. Soon, physicians will be hearing their patient say, “If you do not offer the convenience of Electronic Health Records (EHR), I’ll go to a doctor who does”.

Moreover, as the US healthcare vertical market lags behind in adoption of technology, a great amount of focus will be placed on Personal Health Records (PHR), the ability for a patient to access their Medical Records via smart phones, thumb drives, USB Wallet cards, and any regularly introduced technology application that offer a patient’s updated and complete medical record “On Demand”.

For more information, visit www.MyEMRChoice.com