Posted by Mark Brousseau
As hospitals seek to survive and thrive in the new world of bundled payments, ACO and medical home programs, many are actively seeking to employ more physicians and acquire community practices. In fact, a recent survey by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) shows a nearly 75 percent increase in the number of active doctors employed by hospitals since 2000.
This shift has intensified the perennial challenge of making employed providers revenue positive for the organization. A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine estimated that hospitals lose between $150,000 and $250,000 per year over the first three years of employing a physician (Kochner and Sahni; "Hospitals' Race to Employ Physicians" – March 30, 2011).
Against this backdrop, hospitals must establish a corporate chargemaster file to standardize aspects of physician charging for greater operational efficiency, optimal reimbursement and reduced compliance risks, says Keith Neilson, CEO of Craneware, which is exhibiting at HFMA's ANI Conference this week in Orlando.
To this end, Craneware is launching its Physician Revenue Toolkit to help hospitals manage multiple physician operations.
What do you think?
Showing posts with label EOB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EOB. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Healthcare reform boosts importance of business process improvement
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Health reform-mandated revisions, productivity adjustments, and proposed documentation and coding offsets pose a huge challenge for hospitals, says Ken Perez, senior vice president of marketing for MedeAnalytics.
MedeAnalytics is exhibiting at HFMA's ANI Conference this week in Orlando.
“Our research and economic models indicate that a 300-bed hospital will be required to reduce costs by more than $6 million in the year ahead to avoid erosion of its Medicare margins," Perez says. "The sheer magnitude of the financial impact of these multiple, complex and mounting reductions indicates that hospitals should focus even more attention on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their core activity—the process and delivery of care.”
“Many hospitals are dealing with complex internal processes and financial pressures,” adds MedeAnalytics Associate Vice President of Product Marketing Cole Hooper. “It’s evident that hospitals will need to focus on process workflow and key performance indicators to improve cash flow and identify areas of loss."
What do you think?
Health reform-mandated revisions, productivity adjustments, and proposed documentation and coding offsets pose a huge challenge for hospitals, says Ken Perez, senior vice president of marketing for MedeAnalytics.
MedeAnalytics is exhibiting at HFMA's ANI Conference this week in Orlando.
“Our research and economic models indicate that a 300-bed hospital will be required to reduce costs by more than $6 million in the year ahead to avoid erosion of its Medicare margins," Perez says. "The sheer magnitude of the financial impact of these multiple, complex and mounting reductions indicates that hospitals should focus even more attention on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their core activity—the process and delivery of care.”
“Many hospitals are dealing with complex internal processes and financial pressures,” adds MedeAnalytics Associate Vice President of Product Marketing Cole Hooper. “It’s evident that hospitals will need to focus on process workflow and key performance indicators to improve cash flow and identify areas of loss."
What do you think?
Friday, September 24, 2010
"What are you doing here?"
By Greg Lusch (glusch@ibml.com), ibml (www.ibml.com)
With all of the banks and financial services companies participating in this week's Healthcare Payments Automation Summit (HPAS) in Boston, the healthcare providers and payers in attendance could be excused for momentarily thinking that they were in the wrong place. But they weren't, and neither were their fellow attendees from banking and financial services.
When a single market represents a whopping 17 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) -- as healthcare does -- lots of companies will be looking for ways to cash in. Banks and financial services companies are no exception. And based on my conversations at HPAS, more providers are open to help from banks in automating healthcare payments.
For instance, there was a lot of conversation at HPAS about adapting bank lockbox services to process explanation of benefits (EOBs) and other medical documents. According to the results of a survey released by IAPP-TAWPI at the event, 34 percent of healthcare providers already use a bank lockbox for healthcare payments. Undaunted by the increased security and privacy regulations under the HITECH Act, it is clear that even more banks are pushing forward with lockbox services aimed squarely at hospital and physician practice groups. In fact, the participants on a panel at the event unanimously predicted that the percentage of providers that use a bank lockbox would climb, while a speaker in another session said he expected "slow but steady" growth for both bank and provider-based EOB solutions.
And if HPAS is any indication, banks also are making headway with remote deposit capture (RDC) solutions targeted at the healthcare space, namely, rising patient self-pay and co-insurance/co-payment obligations. According to the IAPP-TAWPI survey released at HPAS, 22 percent of providers currently use RDC. Several vendors of RDC solutions exhibited at the event (Creditron, EPSON and WAUSAU were among them), and a few providers shared case studies of their experiences with the technology as part of the conference agenda (faster funds availability was cited as a key benefit). A common refrain among healthcare providers at HPAS was that lower bank fees have greatly improved the business case for RDC, while banks have done a better job of adapting their solutions to the unique needs of providers.
The role of banks in the healthcare space also was a dominant -- and sometimes heated -- topic during the Healthcare Payments Council meeting that immediately followed HPAS.
The good news for banks looking to crack the healthcare space is that most HPAS attendees believe that while automated payment transactions (claims, remittances and payments) will continue to make gains, paper will be a fact of life in the industry for the foreseeable future.
And that is why banks were at HPAS.
With all of the banks and financial services companies participating in this week's Healthcare Payments Automation Summit (HPAS) in Boston, the healthcare providers and payers in attendance could be excused for momentarily thinking that they were in the wrong place. But they weren't, and neither were their fellow attendees from banking and financial services.
When a single market represents a whopping 17 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) -- as healthcare does -- lots of companies will be looking for ways to cash in. Banks and financial services companies are no exception. And based on my conversations at HPAS, more providers are open to help from banks in automating healthcare payments.
For instance, there was a lot of conversation at HPAS about adapting bank lockbox services to process explanation of benefits (EOBs) and other medical documents. According to the results of a survey released by IAPP-TAWPI at the event, 34 percent of healthcare providers already use a bank lockbox for healthcare payments. Undaunted by the increased security and privacy regulations under the HITECH Act, it is clear that even more banks are pushing forward with lockbox services aimed squarely at hospital and physician practice groups. In fact, the participants on a panel at the event unanimously predicted that the percentage of providers that use a bank lockbox would climb, while a speaker in another session said he expected "slow but steady" growth for both bank and provider-based EOB solutions.
And if HPAS is any indication, banks also are making headway with remote deposit capture (RDC) solutions targeted at the healthcare space, namely, rising patient self-pay and co-insurance/co-payment obligations. According to the IAPP-TAWPI survey released at HPAS, 22 percent of providers currently use RDC. Several vendors of RDC solutions exhibited at the event (Creditron, EPSON and WAUSAU were among them), and a few providers shared case studies of their experiences with the technology as part of the conference agenda (faster funds availability was cited as a key benefit). A common refrain among healthcare providers at HPAS was that lower bank fees have greatly improved the business case for RDC, while banks have done a better job of adapting their solutions to the unique needs of providers.
The role of banks in the healthcare space also was a dominant -- and sometimes heated -- topic during the Healthcare Payments Council meeting that immediately followed HPAS.
The good news for banks looking to crack the healthcare space is that most HPAS attendees believe that while automated payment transactions (claims, remittances and payments) will continue to make gains, paper will be a fact of life in the industry for the foreseeable future.
And that is why banks were at HPAS.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
From Healthcare to Baseball
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Chuck Garcia of BOK Financial, Kendall Brown and Gordon Sellers of Systemware, Serena Smith of FIS, Mark Brousseau of IAPP-TAWPI, and Alan Beaney of Systemware take in a Boston Red Sox game after attending the Healthcare Payments Automation Summit.
Chuck Garcia of BOK Financial, Kendall Brown and Gordon Sellers of Systemware, Serena Smith of FIS, Mark Brousseau of IAPP-TAWPI, and Alan Beaney of Systemware take in a Boston Red Sox game after attending the Healthcare Payments Automation Summit.
Health Reform’s Impact on AP Costs
Posted by Mark Brousseau
The new federal health reform law will drive accounts payable (AP) costs higher over the next two years according to industry stakeholders who responded to a survey at this week’s IAPP-TAWPI Healthcare Payments Automation Summit (HPAS) in Boston. The survey was conducted during the conference by IAPP-TAWPI, APQC and PRGX. Survey respondents included healthcare payers and providers; third-party services providers (such as medical billing firms); banks; and IT vendors.
More than half (51.9 percent) of the HPAS attendees who responded to the survey predicted that health reform will result in higher AP costs over the next two years, while 48.1 percent of survey respondents said that AP costs will remain unchanged. None of the conference attendees that responded to the survey believe that short-term AP costs will decrease as a result of health reform.
HPAS attendees who responded to the survey were more divided on the long-term impact of health reform on AP costs. More than one-third (36.2 percent) of survey respondents believe that health reform will drive AP costs higher long-term (defined in the survey as over two years from now), while an equal percentage of respondents believe AP costs will remain unchanged. On the bright side, 27.7 percent of respondents predicted that health reform will result in lower AP costs long-term.
Among the other findings of the HPAS survey:
… Data integration, processing performance, and integration of physician data were the top healthcare AP challenges identified by respondents, followed by cost pressures, manual data entry (which drives costs up), and the ability to track and report evidence-based improvements in cost.
… Most survey respondents (57.7 percent) believe that health reform will have no impact on AP processing performance over the next two years, while a plurality of respondents (39.6 percent) predicted that health reform will result in lower AP processing performance long-term.
… Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of survey respondents believe that health reform will have no impact on AP late payments and error rates. Long-term, survey respondents were more divided, with a plurality (38.3 percent) predicting that health reform will have no impact on AP late payments and error rates, 31.9 percent predicting that health reform will result in more AP late payments and errors, and 29.8 percent predicting that health reform will help decrease AP late payments and errors.
… HPAS attendees are not optimistic about health reform’s impact on IT systems costs. Nearly two-thirds (62.3 percent) of respondents believe that health reform will drive IT systems costs higher over the next two years, while 37.7 percent of respondents predicted that systems costs would remain unchanged. None of the respondents believe that health reform will result in lower systems costs over the next two years. Long-term, half of the survey respondents believe that health reform will result in higher overall IT systems costs, while 18.8 percent believe IT systems costs will decrease. About one- third (31.3 percent) of respondents predicted that systems costs will remain unchanged.
“Big changes are coming in healthcare, and AP organizations must ask themselves if they are ready,” APQC Analyst Neville Sokol told HPAS attendees. “At times like these, organizations are turning to data and best practices to help them solve problems, improve processes, or design something better. These tools can help make sense of a complex world, and provide a roadmap for moving forward.”
The new federal health reform law will drive accounts payable (AP) costs higher over the next two years according to industry stakeholders who responded to a survey at this week’s IAPP-TAWPI Healthcare Payments Automation Summit (HPAS) in Boston. The survey was conducted during the conference by IAPP-TAWPI, APQC and PRGX. Survey respondents included healthcare payers and providers; third-party services providers (such as medical billing firms); banks; and IT vendors.
More than half (51.9 percent) of the HPAS attendees who responded to the survey predicted that health reform will result in higher AP costs over the next two years, while 48.1 percent of survey respondents said that AP costs will remain unchanged. None of the conference attendees that responded to the survey believe that short-term AP costs will decrease as a result of health reform.
HPAS attendees who responded to the survey were more divided on the long-term impact of health reform on AP costs. More than one-third (36.2 percent) of survey respondents believe that health reform will drive AP costs higher long-term (defined in the survey as over two years from now), while an equal percentage of respondents believe AP costs will remain unchanged. On the bright side, 27.7 percent of respondents predicted that health reform will result in lower AP costs long-term.
Among the other findings of the HPAS survey:
… Data integration, processing performance, and integration of physician data were the top healthcare AP challenges identified by respondents, followed by cost pressures, manual data entry (which drives costs up), and the ability to track and report evidence-based improvements in cost.
… Most survey respondents (57.7 percent) believe that health reform will have no impact on AP processing performance over the next two years, while a plurality of respondents (39.6 percent) predicted that health reform will result in lower AP processing performance long-term.
… Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of survey respondents believe that health reform will have no impact on AP late payments and error rates. Long-term, survey respondents were more divided, with a plurality (38.3 percent) predicting that health reform will have no impact on AP late payments and error rates, 31.9 percent predicting that health reform will result in more AP late payments and errors, and 29.8 percent predicting that health reform will help decrease AP late payments and errors.
… HPAS attendees are not optimistic about health reform’s impact on IT systems costs. Nearly two-thirds (62.3 percent) of respondents believe that health reform will drive IT systems costs higher over the next two years, while 37.7 percent of respondents predicted that systems costs would remain unchanged. None of the respondents believe that health reform will result in lower systems costs over the next two years. Long-term, half of the survey respondents believe that health reform will result in higher overall IT systems costs, while 18.8 percent believe IT systems costs will decrease. About one- third (31.3 percent) of respondents predicted that systems costs will remain unchanged.
“Big changes are coming in healthcare, and AP organizations must ask themselves if they are ready,” APQC Analyst Neville Sokol told HPAS attendees. “At times like these, organizations are turning to data and best practices to help them solve problems, improve processes, or design something better. These tools can help make sense of a complex world, and provide a roadmap for moving forward.”
Growing Opportunity for Banks in Healthcare
Posted by Mark Brousseau
The opportunity for banks in the healthcare market is growing, Aaron McPherson, practice director, Payments and Security, Financial Insights, told attendees yesterday afternoon at the Healthcare Payments Automation Summit (HPAS) in Boston. “In the short run, healthcare reform hurt bank sales as providers were waiting to see what would happen. Now, patient payments, in particular, are an underdeveloped segment of the market that will become a key focus for banks,” McPherson said.
McPherson told attendees that several provisions of the healthcare reform legislation will provide a “big boost” to banks that are marketing payments processing services to healthcare providers:
… Greater operations complexity: Healthcare reform will create many more plans for healthcare providers to “deal with” -- each with different deductibles and co-pays.
… Electronic health records: The federal mandates for healthcare providers to implement electronic health records will sap limited resources for payments processing initiatives.
… Cost cutting: “Steep reductions in Medicare payments will force cost-cutting,” McPherson said, adding that this will drive some providers to partner with banks on payments processing.
… Higher patient payments volumes: “Healthcare reform will result in an increase in patient payment volumes, which, in turn, will stress the systems at many providers,” McPherson said.
But if banks are to take advantage of the growing opportunity in the healthcare market, McPherson said they should heed the lessons learned by their peers that were among the pioneers in the space.
Dedicated focus is critical: Three out of four banks that McPherson spoke with before the conference had a dedicated sales force for their healthcare remittance offerings.
Partners are important: “The banks I spoke with said their partners were critical to their success,” McPherson said. “Most banks will want to partner with a processor or specialty service provider. Experience and integration with clearinghouses, payers and such are important differentiators in the healthcare market. One bank bought their partner after a successful year-long collaboration. Another bank only found success in the healthcare space on their third partner.”
Prepare for sales challenges: “All of the banks I spoke with said the healthcare sales cycle was long and required significant subject matter expertise on the part of their salespeople,” McPherson said. “Banks can’t rely on their existing sales staff. They need people who understand the product and the market. Banks also should look for ways to leverage their existing relationships with providers.”
Patience and persistence do pay off: “The banks I spoke with have been at this for years,” he said.
The opportunity for banks in the healthcare market is growing, Aaron McPherson, practice director, Payments and Security, Financial Insights, told attendees yesterday afternoon at the Healthcare Payments Automation Summit (HPAS) in Boston. “In the short run, healthcare reform hurt bank sales as providers were waiting to see what would happen. Now, patient payments, in particular, are an underdeveloped segment of the market that will become a key focus for banks,” McPherson said.
McPherson told attendees that several provisions of the healthcare reform legislation will provide a “big boost” to banks that are marketing payments processing services to healthcare providers:
… Greater operations complexity: Healthcare reform will create many more plans for healthcare providers to “deal with” -- each with different deductibles and co-pays.
… Electronic health records: The federal mandates for healthcare providers to implement electronic health records will sap limited resources for payments processing initiatives.
… Cost cutting: “Steep reductions in Medicare payments will force cost-cutting,” McPherson said, adding that this will drive some providers to partner with banks on payments processing.
… Higher patient payments volumes: “Healthcare reform will result in an increase in patient payment volumes, which, in turn, will stress the systems at many providers,” McPherson said.
But if banks are to take advantage of the growing opportunity in the healthcare market, McPherson said they should heed the lessons learned by their peers that were among the pioneers in the space.
Dedicated focus is critical: Three out of four banks that McPherson spoke with before the conference had a dedicated sales force for their healthcare remittance offerings.
Partners are important: “The banks I spoke with said their partners were critical to their success,” McPherson said. “Most banks will want to partner with a processor or specialty service provider. Experience and integration with clearinghouses, payers and such are important differentiators in the healthcare market. One bank bought their partner after a successful year-long collaboration. Another bank only found success in the healthcare space on their third partner.”
Prepare for sales challenges: “All of the banks I spoke with said the healthcare sales cycle was long and required significant subject matter expertise on the part of their salespeople,” McPherson said. “Banks can’t rely on their existing sales staff. They need people who understand the product and the market. Banks also should look for ways to leverage their existing relationships with providers.”
Patience and persistence do pay off: “The banks I spoke with have been at this for years,” he said.
HPAS Vendor Showcase
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Jim Wanner of KeyMark, Mark Brousseau of IAPP-IARP-TAWPI and Bo Minogue of MAVRO Imaging at the vendor showcase Tuesday at IAPP-TAWPI's Healthcare Payments Automation Summit at the Boston Sheraton.
Jim Wanner of KeyMark, Mark Brousseau of IAPP-IARP-TAWPI and Bo Minogue of MAVRO Imaging at the vendor showcase Tuesday at IAPP-TAWPI's Healthcare Payments Automation Summit at the Boston Sheraton.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Mid-Term Elections and Healthcare Reform
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Even if Republicans win majorities in Congress this fall, it's unlikely that they will be able to repeal the recently passed healthcare reform legislation, Dennis G. Smith, managing director of the Medicaid practice at Leavitt Partners, said during a keynote presentation this morning at IAPP-IARP-TAWPI’s Healthcare Payments Automation Summit (HPAS) at the Boston Sheraton.
“Nobody is talking about the Republicans winning veto-proof majorities,” Smith said, adding that even if the Republicans did win big, repealing the legislation would only put the country “right back where we started, with the same problems. And when I travel around the country, employers are telling me that they are fed up with the current healthcare environment.”
Against this backdrop, significant changes in the healthcare reform law “really depends on whether Obama pivots, and does what Clinton did in the 1990s,” Smith said. “But Obama is far more ideological than Clinton was.”
So what changes can Republicans push through Congress if they were to win majorities as a result of the mid-term elections? One tool available to them is the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to veto regulations. They also can cut appropriations for certain mandates. “Even entitlements are subject to appropriations,” Smith notes. Congress can also demand a budget summit, which has occurred about every 12 years, Smith said.
But healthcare industry stakeholders shouldn't wait on Congress. “If you expect to be on the winging team when healthcare reform goes into effect, now is the time to prepare,” Smith concluded.
Even if Republicans win majorities in Congress this fall, it's unlikely that they will be able to repeal the recently passed healthcare reform legislation, Dennis G. Smith, managing director of the Medicaid practice at Leavitt Partners, said during a keynote presentation this morning at IAPP-IARP-TAWPI’s Healthcare Payments Automation Summit (HPAS) at the Boston Sheraton.
“Nobody is talking about the Republicans winning veto-proof majorities,” Smith said, adding that even if the Republicans did win big, repealing the legislation would only put the country “right back where we started, with the same problems. And when I travel around the country, employers are telling me that they are fed up with the current healthcare environment.”
Against this backdrop, significant changes in the healthcare reform law “really depends on whether Obama pivots, and does what Clinton did in the 1990s,” Smith said. “But Obama is far more ideological than Clinton was.”
So what changes can Republicans push through Congress if they were to win majorities as a result of the mid-term elections? One tool available to them is the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to veto regulations. They also can cut appropriations for certain mandates. “Even entitlements are subject to appropriations,” Smith notes. Congress can also demand a budget summit, which has occurred about every 12 years, Smith said.
But healthcare industry stakeholders shouldn't wait on Congress. “If you expect to be on the winging team when healthcare reform goes into effect, now is the time to prepare,” Smith concluded.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
ARRA: A Whole New World
By Mark Brousseau
Last year was a year of transition for HIPAA, medical privacy and medical banking, Richard D. Marks of McLean, VA-based Patient Command, Inc. (www.patientcommand.com), told attendees this afternoon at the Medical Banking Project Boot Camp at the HIMSS10 conference in Atlanta.
“ARRA changes the rules for security of health information in the United States,” Marks said. “It creates an entirely new framework because it changes HIPAA so much and because it changes privacy in medical records. And, most significantly, it changes the whole approach to enforcement.”
“It’s fair to say that for the last decade, there has not been any real attempt on the part of the federal government to enforce HIPAA,” Marks explained. “ARRA changes that. What it brings into law, for the first time, is the hierarchy of diligence and culpability. There are increased, tiered civil and criminal monetary penalties, topping out at $50,000 per violation, with an annual limit of $1,500,000. These numbers are enough to get your attention. But the statute also includes civil and criminal liability for individuals, as well as organizations. Which individuals, you ask? Well, it could be you! And some people won’t figure this out, and you will see some prosecutions,” Marks predicted.
Integrated health information security is inherent in ARRA, Marks added.
References in business associate contracts now, by law, apply mutually to covered entities and business associates, Marks pointed out. “The impact of that is to rebalance all of the risk allocation that is in these agreements, and it creates a whole new set of possibilities for liabilities. Some folks will be less affected than others. But some of you will be affected will be enormously,” Marks said.
For instance, security is now an active responsibility of the board of directors and senior executives, if you are doing anything that touches healthcare, Marks said. “If you’re a public company you’ve really go to ask yourself how you do disclosure when you have to take on a much greater risk for your information systems,” Marks said. “What this all means is that you must have integrated, shared systems security that is comprehensive and fast, and upgraded from what you now have.”
Some of the changes in ARRA won’t go into effect until 2011. “But some of this is in effect now, because people, such as ambitious state attorneys general, are going to start enforcing HIPAA,” Marks said. “The bottom line is that ARRA makes it a whole new world in healthcare.”
Last year was a year of transition for HIPAA, medical privacy and medical banking, Richard D. Marks of McLean, VA-based Patient Command, Inc. (www.patientcommand.com), told attendees this afternoon at the Medical Banking Project Boot Camp at the HIMSS10 conference in Atlanta.
“ARRA changes the rules for security of health information in the United States,” Marks said. “It creates an entirely new framework because it changes HIPAA so much and because it changes privacy in medical records. And, most significantly, it changes the whole approach to enforcement.”
“It’s fair to say that for the last decade, there has not been any real attempt on the part of the federal government to enforce HIPAA,” Marks explained. “ARRA changes that. What it brings into law, for the first time, is the hierarchy of diligence and culpability. There are increased, tiered civil and criminal monetary penalties, topping out at $50,000 per violation, with an annual limit of $1,500,000. These numbers are enough to get your attention. But the statute also includes civil and criminal liability for individuals, as well as organizations. Which individuals, you ask? Well, it could be you! And some people won’t figure this out, and you will see some prosecutions,” Marks predicted.
Integrated health information security is inherent in ARRA, Marks added.
References in business associate contracts now, by law, apply mutually to covered entities and business associates, Marks pointed out. “The impact of that is to rebalance all of the risk allocation that is in these agreements, and it creates a whole new set of possibilities for liabilities. Some folks will be less affected than others. But some of you will be affected will be enormously,” Marks said.
For instance, security is now an active responsibility of the board of directors and senior executives, if you are doing anything that touches healthcare, Marks said. “If you’re a public company you’ve really go to ask yourself how you do disclosure when you have to take on a much greater risk for your information systems,” Marks said. “What this all means is that you must have integrated, shared systems security that is comprehensive and fast, and upgraded from what you now have.”
Some of the changes in ARRA won’t go into effect until 2011. “But some of this is in effect now, because people, such as ambitious state attorneys general, are going to start enforcing HIPAA,” Marks said. “The bottom line is that ARRA makes it a whole new world in healthcare.”
Solving the Revenue Cycle
By Mark Brousseau
Banks are well positioned to help “solve” the healthcare revenue cycle, thanks to the keystone revenue cycle data that flows through banks every day, Benchmark Revenue Management CEO Tyson McDowell said at the Medical Banking Project Boot Camp in Atlanta this afternoon.
“Banks can solve operational improvement issues for hospitals, while solving transparency and risk management issues for themselves,” McDowell told attendees. He said banks should “grow-up” their healthcare revenue cycle solutions and extend into denial management, denial avoidance, and services that back up their healthcare customers’ revenue cycle workers with “on-demand” talent.
Today, many banks offer lockbox services, patient payment solutions and extended lockbox services.
“The revenue cycle improvement market is exploding due to permanent financial pressures,” noted McDowell. “While the official definition of the revenue cycle is all of the administrative processes related to collecting all fees owed for services to patients, a more practical definition would be: a near futile attempt to collect all the monies owed in a world with thousands of moving parts.”
“A hospital really has no idea how much money it’s going to get paid,” McDowell said. “Hospitals and, to a lesser extent individual doctors, are getting it from all sides. Healthcare providers need to protect themselves. And denial and payment data is the keystone for solving the revenue cycle.”
Banks have unique access to this information, McDowell said, and they offer value-added services like lockbox. “Banks are in a position to provide new services for healthcare. And it comes from the data. The hospital needs someone to tell them why they need to spend money on an improvement.”
McDowell concluded that banks are starting to move in the direction of new healthcare services.
Banks are well positioned to help “solve” the healthcare revenue cycle, thanks to the keystone revenue cycle data that flows through banks every day, Benchmark Revenue Management CEO Tyson McDowell said at the Medical Banking Project Boot Camp in Atlanta this afternoon.
“Banks can solve operational improvement issues for hospitals, while solving transparency and risk management issues for themselves,” McDowell told attendees. He said banks should “grow-up” their healthcare revenue cycle solutions and extend into denial management, denial avoidance, and services that back up their healthcare customers’ revenue cycle workers with “on-demand” talent.
Today, many banks offer lockbox services, patient payment solutions and extended lockbox services.
“The revenue cycle improvement market is exploding due to permanent financial pressures,” noted McDowell. “While the official definition of the revenue cycle is all of the administrative processes related to collecting all fees owed for services to patients, a more practical definition would be: a near futile attempt to collect all the monies owed in a world with thousands of moving parts.”
“A hospital really has no idea how much money it’s going to get paid,” McDowell said. “Hospitals and, to a lesser extent individual doctors, are getting it from all sides. Healthcare providers need to protect themselves. And denial and payment data is the keystone for solving the revenue cycle.”
Banks have unique access to this information, McDowell said, and they offer value-added services like lockbox. “Banks are in a position to provide new services for healthcare. And it comes from the data. The hospital needs someone to tell them why they need to spend money on an improvement.”
McDowell concluded that banks are starting to move in the direction of new healthcare services.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
News from HIMSS: Saturday
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Some headlines from the HIMSS health IT conference in Atlanta:
iSOFT showcases health IT solutions
iSOFT Group Limited will showcase its suite of solutions that focus on interoperability at the HIMSS health IT conference in Atlanta in the US from March 1-4, 2010.
iSOFT, which last year entered the important US market through its acquisition of Boston-based technology developer BridgeForward Software (re-named iSOFT Integration Systems), will at HIMSS demonstrate its solutions that are designed to address the requirements for ‘Meaningful Use’ under the US Government’s US$34 billion health IT stimulus package.
iSOFT solutions to be showcased at HIMSS include:
Health Information Exchange
iSOFT’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) solution provides healthcare organizations with access to clinical, financial and administrative data from any hospital information system across the organization. iSOFT’s HIE supports clinicians’ decisions at the point of care, reduces preventable errors and duplicative testing, and encourages best-practice medicine.
Health Intelligence
Health Intelligence (HINT) provides healthcare organizations with insights into organizational trends and statistics that supports informed decisions for future planning, the delivery of better-quality care and increased operational performance.
Integration
iSOFT Viaduct addresses the interoperability challenge faced by all organizations by providing a platform that enables software solutions to share information when needed and in the required form, ensuring seamless integration.
Solution Engineering
Health Studio provides a healthcare solution engineering environment to allow organizations to design, create and deploy their own solutions without needing to engage specialist vendors.
Patient Safety
iSOFT Patient Safety provides intelligence on safety and quality problems and best practices, empowering managers to make strategic improvements by providing an interactive evidence base.
Quest Software and HealthCast tout end-to-end clinical desktop and workflow solution
Quest Software, Inc. and HealthCast, Inc. will demonstrate an end-to-end clinical desktop and workflow solution for clinician access to protected healthcare information.
HealthCast’s eXactACCESS single sign-on and clinical workflow solution, coupled with Quest vWorkspace virtual desktop management solution, provides access to critical electronic health, order entry, and clinical documentation systems. As a result, these systems can be centrally managed to reduce costs and security concerns while increasing control of the clinical desktop environment.
“Our goal is to give physicians and clinicians the fast and easy access they need to their patient information while improving data security and reducing IT infrastructure and support costs,” said Simon Pearce, vice president and general manager of desktop virtualization, Quest Software.
vWorkspace and eXactACCESS automate clinician access to and management of virtual desktops and applications by eliminating the need to enter multiple passwords to disparate systems. HealthCast's unique proximity badge functionality automates the login to the virtual desktop and launches a clinician’s primary application based on who they are, and then navigates them to a default location within the application. When the badge is “tapped” again, the clinician’s virtual desktop and applications are disconnected so that clinicians can go to any other workstation in the enterprise, and securely pick up their desktop and applications exactly as they had left them with another “tap” of their badge.
California Health Information Exchange Networks interconnect
The Santa Cruz Health Information Exchange (HIE) is using Axolotl’s Elysium NHIN Gateway to connect to two California HIE networks - EKCITA in Tehachapi, CA and the Long Beach Network for Health in Southern CA, for exchange and sharing of critical clinical information.
This connectivity will be demonstrated at the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase, supported by the California Health and Human Agency (CHHS), the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the Federal Health Architecture (FHA) to illustrate the progress towards health IT interoperability, nationwide.
The Santa Cruz HIE, utilizing Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange solutions, will demonstrate the ability to query from and exchange data with other California HIEs. The demonstration will highlight how clinical data, based on national standards, is integrated into different physician workflows at the point of care - by the local systems that are chosen in each care setting.
“Patient care will be radically improved through this inter-HIE exchange capability,” said Bill Beighe, CIO of Santa Cruz HIE. “This demonstration will show that HIE-to-HIE information exchange is technically feasible and available now.”
The HL7 Continuity of Care Documents (CCD) being exchanged are standard electronic documents that include discrete data elements which can be extracted and incorporated into the receiving systems. Elysium is leveraging components of the IHE IT Infrastructure set of profiles, such as Cross Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS) and Cross Community Access (XCA) to enable the transfer of the clinical data between connected communities. Multiple records will be exchanged to show that the process is general and not a special case.
“Axolotl participated with the Northrop Grumman consortium in the NHIN I project and in July 2009 did a live NHIN demo connecting five HIEs in California. Axolotl’s Elysium Gateway products that enable inter-HIE information exchange are available in our latest production platform and are being implemented. These products connect HIE Networks seamlessly to any other HIE either directly or via the NHIN,” said Anand Shroff, Vice President, Engineering, Axolotl.
Some headlines from the HIMSS health IT conference in Atlanta:
iSOFT showcases health IT solutions
iSOFT Group Limited will showcase its suite of solutions that focus on interoperability at the HIMSS health IT conference in Atlanta in the US from March 1-4, 2010.
iSOFT, which last year entered the important US market through its acquisition of Boston-based technology developer BridgeForward Software (re-named iSOFT Integration Systems), will at HIMSS demonstrate its solutions that are designed to address the requirements for ‘Meaningful Use’ under the US Government’s US$34 billion health IT stimulus package.
iSOFT solutions to be showcased at HIMSS include:
Health Information Exchange
iSOFT’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) solution provides healthcare organizations with access to clinical, financial and administrative data from any hospital information system across the organization. iSOFT’s HIE supports clinicians’ decisions at the point of care, reduces preventable errors and duplicative testing, and encourages best-practice medicine.
Health Intelligence
Health Intelligence (HINT) provides healthcare organizations with insights into organizational trends and statistics that supports informed decisions for future planning, the delivery of better-quality care and increased operational performance.
Integration
iSOFT Viaduct addresses the interoperability challenge faced by all organizations by providing a platform that enables software solutions to share information when needed and in the required form, ensuring seamless integration.
Solution Engineering
Health Studio provides a healthcare solution engineering environment to allow organizations to design, create and deploy their own solutions without needing to engage specialist vendors.
Patient Safety
iSOFT Patient Safety provides intelligence on safety and quality problems and best practices, empowering managers to make strategic improvements by providing an interactive evidence base.
Quest Software and HealthCast tout end-to-end clinical desktop and workflow solution
Quest Software, Inc. and HealthCast, Inc. will demonstrate an end-to-end clinical desktop and workflow solution for clinician access to protected healthcare information.
HealthCast’s eXactACCESS single sign-on and clinical workflow solution, coupled with Quest vWorkspace virtual desktop management solution, provides access to critical electronic health, order entry, and clinical documentation systems. As a result, these systems can be centrally managed to reduce costs and security concerns while increasing control of the clinical desktop environment.
“Our goal is to give physicians and clinicians the fast and easy access they need to their patient information while improving data security and reducing IT infrastructure and support costs,” said Simon Pearce, vice president and general manager of desktop virtualization, Quest Software.
vWorkspace and eXactACCESS automate clinician access to and management of virtual desktops and applications by eliminating the need to enter multiple passwords to disparate systems. HealthCast's unique proximity badge functionality automates the login to the virtual desktop and launches a clinician’s primary application based on who they are, and then navigates them to a default location within the application. When the badge is “tapped” again, the clinician’s virtual desktop and applications are disconnected so that clinicians can go to any other workstation in the enterprise, and securely pick up their desktop and applications exactly as they had left them with another “tap” of their badge.
California Health Information Exchange Networks interconnect
The Santa Cruz Health Information Exchange (HIE) is using Axolotl’s Elysium NHIN Gateway to connect to two California HIE networks - EKCITA in Tehachapi, CA and the Long Beach Network for Health in Southern CA, for exchange and sharing of critical clinical information.
This connectivity will be demonstrated at the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase, supported by the California Health and Human Agency (CHHS), the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the Federal Health Architecture (FHA) to illustrate the progress towards health IT interoperability, nationwide.
The Santa Cruz HIE, utilizing Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange solutions, will demonstrate the ability to query from and exchange data with other California HIEs. The demonstration will highlight how clinical data, based on national standards, is integrated into different physician workflows at the point of care - by the local systems that are chosen in each care setting.
“Patient care will be radically improved through this inter-HIE exchange capability,” said Bill Beighe, CIO of Santa Cruz HIE. “This demonstration will show that HIE-to-HIE information exchange is technically feasible and available now.”
The HL7 Continuity of Care Documents (CCD) being exchanged are standard electronic documents that include discrete data elements which can be extracted and incorporated into the receiving systems. Elysium is leveraging components of the IHE IT Infrastructure set of profiles, such as Cross Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS) and Cross Community Access (XCA) to enable the transfer of the clinical data between connected communities. Multiple records will be exchanged to show that the process is general and not a special case.
“Axolotl participated with the Northrop Grumman consortium in the NHIN I project and in July 2009 did a live NHIN demo connecting five HIEs in California. Axolotl’s Elysium Gateway products that enable inter-HIE information exchange are available in our latest production platform and are being implemented. These products connect HIE Networks seamlessly to any other HIE either directly or via the NHIN,” said Anand Shroff, Vice President, Engineering, Axolotl.
Friday, February 26, 2010
The Other Story at HIMSS
By Mark Brousseau
While Electronic Health Records (EHR) and the impact of the recent definition of the meaningful use requirements will be hot topics at next week's HIMSS Conference in Atlanta, HERAE CEO Jim Ribelin thinks a program underwritten by the new HIMSS Medical Banking Project bears watching.
The project, called Designing the Healthcare Financial Network of the Future, is "right on target," Ribelin says. "The program will assemble key stakeholders to discuss what a strong financial network for healthcare could look like. A future that doesn’t siphon 20 cents of every healthcare dollar spent, and works to advance the balance between responsible financial management and clinical needs of patients," Ribelin says. The program's objective is to determine how the healthcare system can enhance value, reduce costs, and empower the shift from simple disease management to improved health for consumers, while at the same time creating better business models for the healthcare providers.
"EHRs are receiving a lot of attention, but the payment system, where a lot of new processes are in place with standards and systems defined such as bank ACH transactions, HIPAA 835s and ERA files, provides a real opportunity for significant change. A chance to create a network that will reduce costs and create efficiencies without negative impact on patient care,” says Ribelin. “Fix the healthcare payment system, create a strong financial healthcare network and the industry would see a savings of resources without sacrificing quality healthcare.”
What do you think?
While Electronic Health Records (EHR) and the impact of the recent definition of the meaningful use requirements will be hot topics at next week's HIMSS Conference in Atlanta, HERAE CEO Jim Ribelin thinks a program underwritten by the new HIMSS Medical Banking Project bears watching.
The project, called Designing the Healthcare Financial Network of the Future, is "right on target," Ribelin says. "The program will assemble key stakeholders to discuss what a strong financial network for healthcare could look like. A future that doesn’t siphon 20 cents of every healthcare dollar spent, and works to advance the balance between responsible financial management and clinical needs of patients," Ribelin says. The program's objective is to determine how the healthcare system can enhance value, reduce costs, and empower the shift from simple disease management to improved health for consumers, while at the same time creating better business models for the healthcare providers.
"EHRs are receiving a lot of attention, but the payment system, where a lot of new processes are in place with standards and systems defined such as bank ACH transactions, HIPAA 835s and ERA files, provides a real opportunity for significant change. A chance to create a network that will reduce costs and create efficiencies without negative impact on patient care,” says Ribelin. “Fix the healthcare payment system, create a strong financial healthcare network and the industry would see a savings of resources without sacrificing quality healthcare.”
What do you think?
Thursday, May 7, 2009
e-Health Records Incentives
Posted by Mark Brousseau
An interesting article from the Associated Press.
Stimulus gives incentives for e-health records
Tom Breen, Associated Press Writer
On Wednesday May 6, 2009, 6:06 pm EDT
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Health care providers across the country are moving to replace their old paper records with sleek new electronic systems, a process the Obama administration wants to speed along with over $17 billion in stimulus dollars.
That's a tall order for doctors and hospitals, because an estimated 90 percent of health care offices still stack their records in floor-to-ceiling shelves crammed with manila folders.
The administration's goal is to implement systems that allow doctors and nurses instant access to patient records and to avoid harmful errors in prescriptions and medical charts. But some worry the software isn't yet ready to replace the ease of use of paper records, and say the cost of the systems may be too steep.
Dr. Theodore Hole, a family physician in Ventura, Calif., said when he sees patients who have electronic records from other physicians, they're often a collection of checked boxes and fill-in blanks that are meaningless to doctors outside of the group using the system.
"I'm afraid of the way the technology is being forced on physicians before it's really ready," he said, adding that family physicians have a hard time with the prospect of spending tens of thousands of dollars to install the systems.
Health care providers such as doctors and hospitals would be reimbursed by higher Medicare and Medicaid payments if they put the systems in place by 2011. Doctors can receive up to $60,000 and hospitals up to $11 million. If they don't switch, they could see their Medicare and Medicaid dollars decline.
The health care industry has been moving toward electronic records for years, but the rate of adoption has been slow. Some providers are intimidated by startup costs, which can range anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars for a doctor's office to $100 million for a large hospital.
"It's not going to be enough to pay for it; it's going to be enough to make you want to engage with it," Sentara Healthcare Chief Information Officer Bert Reese said of the stimulus incentives.
The southeastern Virginia network of seven hospitals and hundreds of doctors is in the midst of a decade-long, $237 million conversion project, with all hospitals scheduled to be on board next year. The stimulus plan could mean as much as $40 million to the network, he said.
Though the systems vary, advocates say computerized records are safer and more efficient.
There are fewer mistakes that come from trying to read handwriting, and anyone in a medical system can access the information. When a patient comes into the hospital complaining of chest pains, for example, emergency room staffers don't have to hunt down past medical records for allergies, medications and other information because it's immediately available on a computer screen.
The idea is also to shorten the time involved in basic procedures. Under a paper system, Sentara's Reese said, a doctor entering a medication order for a hospital patient can expect to wait up to an hour before the first dose is administered. With electronic records zapping the order directly from the doctor to the hospital pharmacy, Reese said, it can take about five minutes.
The Obama administration believes converting to electronic medical records will improve patient safety and overall health as well as bring down costs across the spectrum from public to private care, according to the DHHS.
"It's an excellent use of the stimulus money," said Dr. Margaret Staggers, a Fayetteville physician who, as a member of West Virginia's House of Delegates, will help determine how the plan shapes the state budget. All seven of West Virginia's state-owned hospitals have the system in place. "Doctors are interested in getting these systems, but there's so much upfront cost."
Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth, N.J., estimates it can get $11 million in stimulus funds for its $30 million electronic health records system, according to Ken Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, which represents about 300 hospitals in the Northeast.
"It's not a bad down payment, but it gives you an idea of the proportion that comes from the stimulus package as opposed to the money they need to invest," he said.
Still, conversion could be slow. An April article in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded there are no reliable estimates on how many hospitals have electronic records, mainly because providers have implemented systems with a piecemeal approach. But it estimates roughly 7.6 percent have at least a "basic" system. For physician practices, the figure is probably around 4 percent.
There are also questions about ease of use, maintenance, compatibility with other systems and keeping all that data secure. Perhaps most urgently, no one yet knows what systems will qualify for reimbursements and keep providers from seeing reduced Medicare and Medicaid payments.
Because of the uncertainty, it's too soon to tell whether the stimulus plan is getting more providers to make the switch, said John Morrissey, spokesman for the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.
"With so many unanswered questions, it's kind of ludicrous to go too far into it," said Joe Letnaunchyn, president of the West Virginia Hospital Association. "You run the risk of spending money inappropriately."
An interesting article from the Associated Press.
Stimulus gives incentives for e-health records
Tom Breen, Associated Press Writer
On Wednesday May 6, 2009, 6:06 pm EDT
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Health care providers across the country are moving to replace their old paper records with sleek new electronic systems, a process the Obama administration wants to speed along with over $17 billion in stimulus dollars.
That's a tall order for doctors and hospitals, because an estimated 90 percent of health care offices still stack their records in floor-to-ceiling shelves crammed with manila folders.
The administration's goal is to implement systems that allow doctors and nurses instant access to patient records and to avoid harmful errors in prescriptions and medical charts. But some worry the software isn't yet ready to replace the ease of use of paper records, and say the cost of the systems may be too steep.
Dr. Theodore Hole, a family physician in Ventura, Calif., said when he sees patients who have electronic records from other physicians, they're often a collection of checked boxes and fill-in blanks that are meaningless to doctors outside of the group using the system.
"I'm afraid of the way the technology is being forced on physicians before it's really ready," he said, adding that family physicians have a hard time with the prospect of spending tens of thousands of dollars to install the systems.
Health care providers such as doctors and hospitals would be reimbursed by higher Medicare and Medicaid payments if they put the systems in place by 2011. Doctors can receive up to $60,000 and hospitals up to $11 million. If they don't switch, they could see their Medicare and Medicaid dollars decline.
The health care industry has been moving toward electronic records for years, but the rate of adoption has been slow. Some providers are intimidated by startup costs, which can range anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars for a doctor's office to $100 million for a large hospital.
"It's not going to be enough to pay for it; it's going to be enough to make you want to engage with it," Sentara Healthcare Chief Information Officer Bert Reese said of the stimulus incentives.
The southeastern Virginia network of seven hospitals and hundreds of doctors is in the midst of a decade-long, $237 million conversion project, with all hospitals scheduled to be on board next year. The stimulus plan could mean as much as $40 million to the network, he said.
Though the systems vary, advocates say computerized records are safer and more efficient.
There are fewer mistakes that come from trying to read handwriting, and anyone in a medical system can access the information. When a patient comes into the hospital complaining of chest pains, for example, emergency room staffers don't have to hunt down past medical records for allergies, medications and other information because it's immediately available on a computer screen.
The idea is also to shorten the time involved in basic procedures. Under a paper system, Sentara's Reese said, a doctor entering a medication order for a hospital patient can expect to wait up to an hour before the first dose is administered. With electronic records zapping the order directly from the doctor to the hospital pharmacy, Reese said, it can take about five minutes.
The Obama administration believes converting to electronic medical records will improve patient safety and overall health as well as bring down costs across the spectrum from public to private care, according to the DHHS.
"It's an excellent use of the stimulus money," said Dr. Margaret Staggers, a Fayetteville physician who, as a member of West Virginia's House of Delegates, will help determine how the plan shapes the state budget. All seven of West Virginia's state-owned hospitals have the system in place. "Doctors are interested in getting these systems, but there's so much upfront cost."
Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth, N.J., estimates it can get $11 million in stimulus funds for its $30 million electronic health records system, according to Ken Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, which represents about 300 hospitals in the Northeast.
"It's not a bad down payment, but it gives you an idea of the proportion that comes from the stimulus package as opposed to the money they need to invest," he said.
Still, conversion could be slow. An April article in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded there are no reliable estimates on how many hospitals have electronic records, mainly because providers have implemented systems with a piecemeal approach. But it estimates roughly 7.6 percent have at least a "basic" system. For physician practices, the figure is probably around 4 percent.
There are also questions about ease of use, maintenance, compatibility with other systems and keeping all that data secure. Perhaps most urgently, no one yet knows what systems will qualify for reimbursements and keep providers from seeing reduced Medicare and Medicaid payments.
Because of the uncertainty, it's too soon to tell whether the stimulus plan is getting more providers to make the switch, said John Morrissey, spokesman for the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.
"With so many unanswered questions, it's kind of ludicrous to go too far into it," said Joe Letnaunchyn, president of the West Virginia Hospital Association. "You run the risk of spending money inappropriately."
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Changing Medical Banking Landscape
By Mark Brousseau
The banking landscape has fundamentally changed over the last year – and the medical banking market has changed along with it, June St. John, senior vice president, healthcare product manager, Wachovia Treasury Services, said today during the Seventh National Medical Banking Institute in Nashville, TN. As evidence of the market turmoil, St. John pointed to accelerating bank consolidation and the dwindled market capitalization of the remaining banks.
“The medical banking participants have changed, the players have changed, and the capital available for medical banking projects has been reduced,” St. John told attendees. “We have reduced capital to spend, and we really need to be coalesced as group to what is important in medical banking.”
St. John said it is all about, “how we continue to transform the medical banking products and services we offer. We need to continue to do the good work of migrating from paper to electronic, and bridge the divide between what banks can offer their constituents in healthcare, and what their constituents can do with those products and services to positively impact their organizations.”
What do you think? Post your comments below.
The banking landscape has fundamentally changed over the last year – and the medical banking market has changed along with it, June St. John, senior vice president, healthcare product manager, Wachovia Treasury Services, said today during the Seventh National Medical Banking Institute in Nashville, TN. As evidence of the market turmoil, St. John pointed to accelerating bank consolidation and the dwindled market capitalization of the remaining banks.
“The medical banking participants have changed, the players have changed, and the capital available for medical banking projects has been reduced,” St. John told attendees. “We have reduced capital to spend, and we really need to be coalesced as group to what is important in medical banking.”
St. John said it is all about, “how we continue to transform the medical banking products and services we offer. We need to continue to do the good work of migrating from paper to electronic, and bridge the divide between what banks can offer their constituents in healthcare, and what their constituents can do with those products and services to positively impact their organizations.”
What do you think? Post your comments below.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Weak EHR Adoption Called Troubling and Sobbering
Posted by Mark Brousseau
An interesting article from Government Health IT on the slow adoption of electronic health records (EHRs):
4 percent of U.S. doctors use EHRs, new study finds
Nancy Ferris
A milestone study of the adoption of health information technology has produced findings that one of the study’s authors calls troubling and the other calls very sobering.
The survey of 2,758 U.S. doctors, sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), found that only 4 percent had a fully functional electronic health record system. Another 13 percent had a basic or partially functional EHR system.
A 2006 study, also sponsored by ONC, found that as many as 9 percent of doctors had fully functional EHR systems. However, Dr. Karen Bell, director of ONC’s Office of Health IT Adoption, said the survey parameters were different.
“There is an increase,” Bell said at a press conference to discuss the results, which were reported in an online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The earlier survey, undertaken by the same team, found that 24 percent of doctors had some sort of computerized record system, but the question allowed them to count billing systems and other kinds of systems not directly related to health care.
Dr. David Blumenthal, director of the Institute of Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital and a co-author of the study, said, “We need to get moving a lot faster than we have been if we are going to take full advantage of this technology and realize its promise for medicine."
His colleague, Massachusetts General researcher Catherine DesRoches, said she found reason for hope in the findings. Forty-two percent of the doctors surveyed said their practice had bought an EHR system but had not yet implemented it or they were planning to buy one in the next two years.
“Physicians who use these systems like them,” she said, and they reported that the technology supported better patient care.
But, DesRoches said, doctors are uncertain whether they will get a financial return on their investment in EHRs, and they are fearful of new legal liabilities that could arise. Cost, she said, is the No. 1 barrier to doctors’ adoption of the technology.
Although ONC had touted the previous survey as a benchmark from which to measure future EHR adoption, Bell said the more recent one is “a true benchmark.” She said an agency of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will repeat the survey using the same survey instrument in the future.
An interesting article from Government Health IT on the slow adoption of electronic health records (EHRs):
4 percent of U.S. doctors use EHRs, new study finds
Nancy Ferris
A milestone study of the adoption of health information technology has produced findings that one of the study’s authors calls troubling and the other calls very sobering.
The survey of 2,758 U.S. doctors, sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), found that only 4 percent had a fully functional electronic health record system. Another 13 percent had a basic or partially functional EHR system.
A 2006 study, also sponsored by ONC, found that as many as 9 percent of doctors had fully functional EHR systems. However, Dr. Karen Bell, director of ONC’s Office of Health IT Adoption, said the survey parameters were different.
“There is an increase,” Bell said at a press conference to discuss the results, which were reported in an online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The earlier survey, undertaken by the same team, found that 24 percent of doctors had some sort of computerized record system, but the question allowed them to count billing systems and other kinds of systems not directly related to health care.
Dr. David Blumenthal, director of the Institute of Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital and a co-author of the study, said, “We need to get moving a lot faster than we have been if we are going to take full advantage of this technology and realize its promise for medicine."
His colleague, Massachusetts General researcher Catherine DesRoches, said she found reason for hope in the findings. Forty-two percent of the doctors surveyed said their practice had bought an EHR system but had not yet implemented it or they were planning to buy one in the next two years.
“Physicians who use these systems like them,” she said, and they reported that the technology supported better patient care.
But, DesRoches said, doctors are uncertain whether they will get a financial return on their investment in EHRs, and they are fearful of new legal liabilities that could arise. Cost, she said, is the No. 1 barrier to doctors’ adoption of the technology.
Although ONC had touted the previous survey as a benchmark from which to measure future EHR adoption, Bell said the more recent one is “a true benchmark.” She said an agency of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will repeat the survey using the same survey instrument in the future.
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