On September 3rd, CCHIT held a Town Call Web conference for vendors and EHR developers. They acknowledged that they will not be the only certifying game in town, but are moving forward to establish their set of certification options and processes.
They opened the meeting by advising vendors that they must “choose their risk”—either begin the certification quest now and risk the possibility that the requirements may change, or wait until the regulations are finalized and risk not getting certified in time for the beginning of the EHR incentives program.
Why is the Stimulus Legislation all about risk? Not only vendors, but physicians also are being asked to take a risk—a huge risk, from my perspective. They are being asked to buy a “certified” EHR now with the expectation of being able to meet the “meaningful use” requirements and receive a total of $44,000 over the five years between 2011 and 2015.
What this really means is: Risk a sizeable financial investment in the purchase of an EHR system that history has shown has a slim likelihood of successful implementation or enterprise-wide adoption. Risk not being able or willing to meet the onerous “meaningful use” requirements—either from the outset or as they become more stringent in 2013 and 2015—and therefore risk not receiving the anticipated bonuses. And don’t forget about the significant risk of reducing physician productivity by up to 15%. Even a conservative 5% productivity hit to a physician generating an annual revenue of $750,000 to $1 million represents lost revenue and profit of up to $250,000 over five years. The biggest risk of all is that you fall prey to all of the above and then find yourself with the all-too-common result of owning an EHR that no one likes and no one uses.
The question physicians are forced to consider is: How do these risks compare to the risk of not receiving a relatively small and only potential incentive of $44,000 (an average of only $8,800 per year)? Instead, physicians should be asking which EHR solution is most likely to be adopted quickly, successfully, and practice-wide, and which will be likely to best enhance workflow, address patient-care needs, and contribute to the bottom line of the practice. Better yet, eliminate your risk entirely—find an EHR vendor that supports EMR Reform.
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Nice post! Until some concrete and “meaningful” numbers can be crunched about the cost of attaining meaningful use, I would also advise many small physician offices to exercise caution on their EMR decision and truly calculate costs. To simply choose a system in the hopes of getting stimulus funds that offset costs would be foolish for small practice MD’s, chiropractic offices, physical therapists and the like.