Electronic Medical Records: Day to device is fast
approaching
The
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 encourage healthcare providers
to transform conventional paper based system to electronic records by providing
monetary benefits. Hospitals and doctors who do not adopt electronic medical records (EMRs)
by 2015, Medicare reimbursements will be reduced by 1%. The
deduction rate increases in subsequent years by 2% in 2016, 3% in 2017, 4% in
2018, and up to 95% depending on future adjustments. The outcome of this
aggressive approach is that all health care providers are
making the inconvenient transition to electronic medical records.
Incentive
money certainly motivates many small or single provider practices.
Physicians admit that the monetary benefits could help them further improve
the patient experience. But the incentives will be only sufficient to the transition and cannot support the adoption of EMR.
Medicare physicians who meet the core requirements of stage one of meaningful use in 2011 and 2012 are considered early adopters and will be eligible to collect $18,000 this year and $12,000 next year. "But if you start in 2013, you will get less money the first year and less money during the next two years because the program only runs until the end of 2015," says David Kibbe, M.D., M.B.A., senior adviser to the AAFP's Center for Health IT.
Medicare physicians who meet the core requirements of stage one of meaningful use in 2011 and 2012 are considered early adopters and will be eligible to collect $18,000 this year and $12,000 next year. "But if you start in 2013, you will get less money the first year and less money during the next two years because the program only runs until the end of 2015," says David Kibbe, M.D., M.B.A., senior adviser to the AAFP's Center for Health IT.
"Physicians
can get the full $44,000 in incentive payments under Medicare by starting in
2012," he says. And for physicians with Medicaid patients, the incentive
payments are even higher.
The government is predetermined in terms of
ensuring that the EMR adaptation rate is appreciable and that is why along with
grants and federal funding, more college-level programs aimed at creating more
Health Information Management professionals are likely to be introduced as 2014
draws near. This will confirm that the approaching explosion in electronic
records numbers is addressed with the availability of qualified
professionals—further helping to reduce the overall costs for employing
healthcare computer technologies and easing the entire process.
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