Electronic Medical Records Group - Practice Management And EMR Software For Clinicians

Stimulus Package And EMR

The recent plan to create an industry wide electronic health records system by incentivizing the adoption of EMR is a truly huge undertaking. To put it in perspective, in 2007, the total healthcare IT industry spending was $26 billion. Meanwhile, the Federal Stimulus package seeks to invest $20 billion in electronic medical records ALONE. It's a huge number, to be sure, and certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity for both EMR vendors and healthcare providers.

Late Coming, But Meaningful Use Has Been Defined

If you're not familiar with the exact rules regarding the Stimulus package and EMR software systems, it bears reviewing. As recently as July 13, 2010, the HHS altered the "meaningful use" clause, which essentially is necessary for doctors to receive the Medicare or Medicaid incentives that are offered for full EMR adoption.

One of the original regulations, for example, was that doctors must transmit 75% of their prescriptions electronically. With the recent update, this has been changed to 40%. The recent rule change also submits that doctors must abide by 15 objectives (from the original 25), while hospitals must abide by 14 (from the original 23).

Another important point is that while healthcare providers initially had to enact five measures to meet the clinical decision support requirement, they now only have to meet one. This only makes sense, as the original bill was quite stringent as far as EMR adoption went.

The recent changes are the result of over 2000 comments by both EMR vendors and healthcare providers, and certainly allow far more flexibility in determining "meaningful use" than before.

Does Your EMR Qualify You For Meaningful Use?

Because the Federal Stimulus rules defining meaningful use (which is included within an 864 page document; a scary read to be sure!) are more stringent than many people expected, it begs the question: if you already have an EMR system, is it Federal Stimulus ready?

In many cases, particularly those with low-end or very singular use electronic medical records systems, this is not the case. Each day, Electronic Medical Records Group speaks with several physicians who are having difficulties obtaining "meaningful use" status for their systems, some of which were installed as recent as a year ago. This has led us to provide much different consulting services than we originally intended, as we have been able to "partially upgrade" current systems in order to help meet the use guidelines.

If your practice requires this kind of help, we would encourage you to contact us today. You may not need an entirely new practice management or EMR software system, and may be able to meet meaningful use without going too crazy adding new systems. Get in touch with us here.