While the HITECH Act presents great opportunity for healthcare providers, a lack of clarity on standards represents a lot of unknowns for the future.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal stimulus act will push 90 percent of all physicians and 70 percent of hospitals into using an electronic health record by 2020.
Based on the way things are going and the demand for quality, Glen Tullman, CEO of Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, expects this to go “much faster.”
Tullman cautions, however, that getting physicians to use an EHR is not the end result, but rather just the beginning: “It’s not about giving you money to buy an EHR; it is about usability.”
The HITECH Act allocates $36 billion for healthcare providers who demonstrate meaningful use of an EHR.
The first priority for both the Healthcare Information Technology Policy Committee and the HIT Standards Committee is defining meaningful use. Recommendations on "meaningful use" – required by providers to be paid bonuses under Medicare – are expected within a month or so. The committees must have an initial set of standards completed by Dec. 31.
“I think they will have to figure out way to expedite this," said Margaret Garikes, director of federal affairs for the American Medical Association. “This summer will be a very busy time. … We may see something (on meaningful use) in July but that would be fast."
Garikes said the status quo is no longer acceptable. The nation needs to move forward on this policy issue, while taking into account the reality of the burdens that physician practices deal with day in and day out, she said.
“We are very mindful of balancing act that this will require,” she said.
Part of this balancing act is seeing that early adopters are not penalized because they no longer meet the new standards.
Tullman advises practices to make sure their EHR vendor is CCHIT-certified and discuss with them any plans of upgrading. Although he said he can’t imagine that a non-CCHIT-certified technology would meet the meaningful use standards, being certified is not a guarantee.
