An overwhelming majority of the nation's hospitals and a large percentage of office-based physicians have said they intend to register for federal incentive payments for adoption and meaningful use of certified electronic health records (EHRs), according to survey results released by Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
The survey information offers an early and encouraging snapshot of the commitment by a large number of healthcare providers who plan to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.
The numbers represent a reversal of the previously low EHR adoption rate, said Dr. David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health IT, at a Jan. 13 briefing at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., one of 100 hospitals in 47 states that announced they were committed to signing up for the meaningful use incentives.
About 81 percent of hospitals plan to accomplish meaningful use of EHRs and take advantage of incentive payments, according to the survey data from the American Hospital Association (AHA). About 65 percent said they will enroll during stage 1 of the incentive programs during 2011 and 2012.
Among office-based physicians, 41 perent plan to become meaningful users, and 32.4 percent of them said they will sign up by 2012, according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Only 14 percent said they would not apply for meaningful use incentives. The remainder said they were considering participation.
"We are encouraged where we are at this point," Blumenthal said.
The number of primary care physicians who have already adopted a basic EHR jumped by 50 percent to 29.6 percent in 2010 from 19.8 percent in 2008, NCHS said.
"That's the kind of change you see when the technology is about to achieve liftoff in its trend throughout a system," Blumenthal said.
"For years we have known that electronic health records would improve care for patients and bring about greater cost effectiveness in our health sector, yet adoption rates by health care providers remained low," he said. "I believe we are seeing the tide turn toward widespread and accelerating adoption and use of health IT" due to the combined efforts of the HITECH Act, which authorized the incentives, and the leadership of medical professional organizations and hospitals.
Non-hospital-based physicians and other eligible professionals can obtain incentive payments of as much as $44,000 under Medicare or $63,750 under Medicaid. Under both Medicare and Medicaid, eligible hospitals may receive millions of dollars for implementing and meaningfully using certified EHRs. However, if providers wait to participate, the incentives shrink over time. And financial penalties are scheduled to take effect in five years.
"This is a one-time opportunity. The federal government is not going to put the kinds of resources that it has put into the meaningful use program again anytime soon," Blumenthal said. "People should think really hard (about) if they are ever going to do this -- especially those in the prime of their practice, thinking that they are going to retire without putting their computer to work for their patients."
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched registration for the program on Jan. 3. Some 4,000 providers signed up in the first week, according to CMS.
The incentives cover only part of the costs -- probably 30 percent to 50 percent -- that providers will incur in meeting meaningful use, said Geoff Brown, CIO of Inova Health System in Virginia.
"You are actually tackling a larger scale transformation, using this (meaningful use incentive) to go back and put in new protocols that link other elements of service across the continuum of care," he said. "But it does help you cover your investment in licenses and technology."
To accelerate adoption, ONC has funded 62 regional extension centers across the nation to offer "boots-on-the-ground" local assistance, especially for independent physicians and for small practices, hospitals and clinics.
Among local hospitals, patients have said that they value EHR features, such as online access to test results, and the convenience and safety that electronic prescriptions provide, said Catherine Szenczy, CIO of MedStar Health, which has providers in the Washington metropolitan area.
"Gaining physician acceptance of EHRs has been a journey because it represents a significant change in the daily workflow," she said, but added that "many of our physicians have told us that electronic health records have made them better physicians."
