Two SRS representatives are currently in Washington, D.C., attending the Hearing on “Meaningful Use” of Health Information Technology. They are listening to (and will provide) testimony to the government on what should constitute “meaningful use” of an EHR that would qualify physicians to receive the potential EHR incentive payments.
Noticeably absent from the testimony and discussion at the Hearing, so far, is any consideration of the impact that “meaningful EHR use” requirements would have on physicians. The proposed definitions all supported admirable goals of improved quality of care and better outcomes, interoperability, and reduced costs—all of which well represent the interests of varied healthcare system stakeholders. But the physicians are the ones who will be asked to take on the incremental burden of collecting the data in the required formats at the point of care. The result will be a decrease in productivity that will have financial implications for physicians, but will also impact their ability to take care of the increasing number of patients entering the healthcare system. As the population ages, and if President Obama is successful in his plan to extend healthcare coverage to the uninsured, the already existing physician shortage will be exacerbated. (Read “Shortage of Doctors Proves Obstacle to Obama Goals” in this past Monday’s New York Times).
Another concern is that medical specialists were not mentioned even once during the course of the day’s testimony—all of the discussion centered on primary care. The focus should be on primary care, since they are responsible for the management of most chronic illness; however, high-performance specialists have different workflows and EMR requirements. There must be a separate set of criteria and requirements for their demonstration of “meaningful use.”
Related posts:
- No Use = No “Meaningful Use”
- Meaningful Use Uncertainty Is Gone: Which Path Will Physicians Choose Now?
- Government EHR: Teetering on the Backs of Physicians
- Government EMR Field of Dreams: What If Physicians Don’t Come?
- President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 today, which includes funding for Health Information Technology.
