Much like the federal government’s program targeting old automobiles, MedPlexus is setting its sights on old electronic health records and practice management systems.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based developer of EHR and PM solutions has launched its own version of a “Cash for Clunkers” program, offering medical practices cash payments of $3,000 to $5,000 to replace their old systems with the company’s software platforms.
C.M. Mallipeddi, the company’s founder and CEO, said they’ve been receiving six to 10 calls a day since starting the program on Sept. 1, “and word is spreading around.”
The issue, Mallipeddi says, lies in small to medium-sized physician practices that have older, legacy EHR systems and want to upgrade or add on PM abilities to qualify for federal funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). In many cases, he said, they’re finding it’s too expensive to get upgrades, or the new systems don’t integrate well with the old systems.
“Most healthcare IT solutions in place at physician practices in the U.S. are dinosaurs compared to what is offered now,” he said, when he announced the program on Aug. 14. “These legacy systems cause physicians to lose money via inefficiencies they wouldn’t experience if they were using a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) model, for instance. They make it difficult and expensive to demonstrate ‘meaningful use’ of EHR, which you have to do to receive the up-to-$64,000 in incentives available.”
MedPlexus isn’t the only vendor concerned with the slow rate of EHR adoption by physician practices. A recent survey by Plano, Texas-based Perot Systems of 150 physician clients indicated more than half (52 percent) are “extremely concerned” about the upfront cost of EHR implementation (in contrast, only 27 percent are concerned that such technology will help them achieve meaningful use). In light of these concerns and the economy, many are offering financing packages, licensing models and other incentives to spur physician adoption.
Hyland Software, for instance, recently announced a partnership with Grants Office, a research company offering assistance in locating grants, to offer healthcare providers free help in finding money to fund investments in the company’s OnBase solution.
“Organizations are at a crossroads,” said Bill Priemer, chief operating officer for Cleveland-based Hyland. “Their goal is to find ways to do more with less, but they can’t fund the necessary technology to make it happen. To make matters worse, they don’t always have the time or resources to track down grant funding.”
Mallipeddi says MedPlexus, like many other vendors, wants physicians to adopt new technology or upgrade their systems now, so that stimulus funding – when it becomes available next year and beyond – can be used to improve providers’ use of technology, rather than just get them started.
“The incentives are aligned for use, not acquisition,” said Harry Greenspun, MD, chief medical officer of Perot’s healthcare group. “You have to find a way to align the financing of this.”
