The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has nearly $20 billion to distribute to physicians and other healthcare providers over the next five years. In order to receive a share, a physician or practice must implement an Electronic Health Record software system and make “meaningful use” of it. Naturally, the definition of “meaningful use” is hotly debated.
Since any definition set in stone in 2009 will likely apply to home care and hospice EHR users in a few years, it would be smart for leaders in these two healthcare segments to join the debate now.
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has already volunteered to grab the reins, holding meetings and workshops to discuss possible definitions, in hopes their substantial influence will gain the attention of those who will write the final definition. As instructed by ARRA, that will be bureaucrats within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Through its HIT Policy Committee, HHS has published a first draft, with a revision to follow later this month. Missing from the discussion thus far, however, are the individual clinicians and clinic or agency owners who will be purchasing and using these new EHR systems and receiving ARRA stimulus payments. Until now.
IVANS, a Virginia-based healthcare technology services company, just released results of a survey of its clients that it conducted and published at its own expense. Healthcare providers surveyed included a large number of home care agencies, hospices and long term care facilities. Below is a summary of the company’s findings:
Eighty two percent of total healthcare providers polled believe the initial draft definition of “meaningful use” is on the right track, but they expressed concerns over the following five issues via the comments section of the survey:
- Financial implications: Providers are looking for assurances that they will be able to benefit from the stimulus money, and that it will be distributed in a fair and equitable manner. For many, the initial capital outlay required to implement EHRs can be difficult to overcome, so funding is important to encouraging adoption.
- Security/privacy concerns: Providers want secure, electronic access to the necessary data so they can make sound treatment decisions, but are looking for provisions on who has access to what.
- Lack of standards: Guidance is needed for setting up industry-wide data standards to make records interoperable, so data sharing at regional and national levels can actually occur in practice, not just in theory.
- Desire to see examples: Providers are a diverse group and what works for a small home healthcare outfit in the Midwest may not work for a large urban hospital. Providers want to understand how these rules would apply to their specific workflow in order for it to be “meaningful” to them.
- Resource constraints: Providers see the benefits of EHRs, but want to understand best practices for implementation, training and reporting to streamline the process of implementing and using EHRs.
Complete survey results are available from IVANS.
www.ivans.com
