Penalties of NOT Achieving Meaningful Use
It has been widely debated about whether the penalties associated with the HITECH Stimulus Act are an effective motivator for physicians to implement a Certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) to achieve Meaningful Use. Medicare penalties are scheduled to begin in 2015, with a 1% penalty which can grow to 5% by 2019. The impact of this penalty is dependent on how much Medicare reimbursements the practice does. For a practice that has $100,000 in Medicare reimbursements, the 2015 penalty would be $1,000.
Many argue that this may be too insignificant to the practice when compared with the hard costs and time loss often associated with implementing and EHR. If a practice does little or no Medicare, the Stimulus Act presents no motivation to achieve Meaningful Use certification. However, there are other strong reasons to strive for Meaningful Use. The most obvious is the potential for improvement in quality patient care, but there are several other potential penalties of not implementing. We will review a few of these, and you may have some to add.
Insurance Reimbursements - Many stakeholders in the healthcare industry believe that insurance companies will eventually require Meaningful Use and a certified EHR to process reimbursements. This would allow for insurance companies to receive additional data, require additional reports, measure care plans, etc. There are very few practices that accept cash only, so a requirement for Meaningful Use by insurance companies would be a huge game-changer.
Recruiting Physicians and Value of Practice - As more young physicians practice their residency in hospitals with EHRs, the greater the demand to work in a practice with an EHR. This means that having an EHR could help attract new doctors to join the practice, or could increase the sales value of a practice.
Patient Services- It may be strange to consider an EHR as a marketing tool, but in the near future, patients may require the services available through a certified EHR. The ability to use a patient portal for on-line appointment scheduling, pre-registration documentation and prescription refill requests, as well as a kiosk for check-in and information updates, will become an attraction to existing and potential patients. Patients will look for physicians that can provide the ease of e-Prescribe, electronic referrals and the elimination of paperwork duplication. Not yet, not today.....but likely before 2014.
Government Mandated Reporting - Although the government hasn't "mandated" EHR implementation, they can certainly mandate additional data requirements and reports. If you have participated in PQRI (now PQRS), then you are well aware of how challenging creating patient quality reports can be. Theoretically, data can be maintained and synthesized manually, but the resources and knowledge to produce these reports could be draining on a medical practice. An EHR that is required to produce government required reports in order to be certified is going to handle this activity much more effectively and efficiently.
ROI for Your Practice - Although many would argue the return on investment (ROI) of implementing a certified EHR, there are many physicians who have cut costs, improved revenue cycle and reduced their patient documentation time utilizing an EHR. Having a sound IT infrastructure, making a smart selection and receiving an excellent training and implementation effort, are critical to the impact of an EHR on the business side of the practice as well as workflow, time and staff acceptance. When the right conditions exist, an EHR will produce a strong and ongoing return on investment.
Although we have not discussed the potential "penalties" for implementing an EHR, but we have found that most physicians and practice managers are well versed in the perceived "downside" of Meaningful Use requirements. Additionally, it is likely that more pros and cons for implementing an EHR and achieving Meaningful Use will continue to develop. We at LAN Systems will continue to stay abreast of emerging issues in order to fully serve our IT clients and partners.
Many argue that this may be too insignificant to the practice when compared with the hard costs and time loss often associated with implementing an EHR. If a practice does little or no Medicare, the Stimulus Act presents no motivation to achieve Meaningful Use certification. However, there are other strong reasons to strive for Meaningful Use. The most obvious is the potential for improvement in quality patient care, but there are several other potential penalties of not implementing. We will review a few of these, and you may have some to add.
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