A new federal initiative offering bonus payments to physicians who successfully implement electronic health records launched Jan. 3, and early signs indicate it could help spur adoption of the technology.
Officials in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology recently released two surveys showing that more than 40% of office-based physicians and 80% of hospitals plan to seek federal incentives for the adoption and use of EHRs under Medicare and Medicaid.
The incentive programs, which launched at the start of the year, offer payments to physicians for using health information technology (HIT) to improve patient care. The federal government recently issued regulations detailing how physicians and hospitals can meet standards for so-called "meaningful use" of the technology. Physicians who meet the criteria are eligible to receive up to $44,000 over 5 years under the Medicare program or $63,750 in 6 years under the Medicaid program. Eligible hospitals could receive millions of dollars, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
The survey of office-based physicians, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 41% plan to achieve meaningful use and seek federal incentive payments. Of those, about 80% said that they plan to enroll during first stage of the program, this year or next.
A separate survey, conducted by the American Hospital Association, found that 81% of hospitals plan to achieve meaningful use and apply for incentive payments, with about 65% enrolling in the same time frame.
While the federal government has promoting these incentives for more than a year, it was uncertain whether physicians would choose to participate.
Dr. Steven Waldren
Officials at the American Academy of Family Physicians said that while they do not have concrete data, but informal polls of their members show high interest in the incentives. Dr. Steven Waldren, director of the Center for Health IT at the AAFP, said that among physicians who attended lectures on meaningful use at the group’s annual meeting last fall, about 80% reported that they currently use an EHR in their practice and about 90% said they plan to try to achieve meaningful use this year.
It’s a biased sample, Dr. Waldren said, but it still paints a picture. "What it kind of tells us is that there are a lot of doctors out there, especially those that have adopted the technology, [who] are trying to figure out how to be meaningful users in 2011."
The big question is how many physicians will be able to convert their interest in the program into the ability to achieve meaningful use of EHRs, he added.
Dr. Waldren said most physicians will be able to meet the current thresholds for functions like electronic prescribing, which are outlined in the meaningful use criteria. However, the greater challenge will come in capturing and reporting that data to the government, he said.
Dr. Waldren recommended that physicians seek out the Regional Extension Centers set up by the federal government. These centers have been established around the country and are specifically charged with aiding small practices, primary care physicians, and those working in underserved areas. But he also cautioned that the level of expertise may vary by center.
While many of the barriers to EHR adoption remain the same, the financial incentives seem to be helping physicians who were "on the fence," move in the direction of purchasing a system, said Dr. Michael S. Barr, a senior vice president at the American College of Physicians.
The success of the program can’t be judged, he said, at least until figures are available on how many physicians met the stage 1 meaningful use standards, said Dr. Barr, who also serves on the Health IT Policy Committee’s meaningful use workgroup. As the incentive program progresses and the quality measures become more robust, the data that is reported should also show whether the program has resulted in improvements in clinical quality of care, Dr. Barr said.