Meeting meaningful use would negatively impact physician productivity, according to results of a recent Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) questionnaire. The physician members' concern couldn't have come at a more critical time - within days of CMS closing the public comment period. Read »

The meaningful use workgroup, which reports to HHS' Health IT Policy Committee, recommended a reduction in the number of measures providers would need to meet in order to qualify for federal incentive funds under CMS. From the overall feedback CMS has received since the meaningful use criteria was released at the end of December 2009, it's the right thing to do. Read »

Imagine it's 2020. You had a test done the day before, a test that was ordered because your physician was alerted via your EHR to a gap in care. The following morning, both you and your physician receive the results via e-mail, you via your PHR and she via her EHR system. Read »

I don't believe anyone in the healthcare industry believes ARRA will single-handedly drive up EHR adoption among providers. Of course, the hope is that the federal incentive money will bring physicians, for whom cost is an issue, into the fold. But what's going to really move the needle on EHR adoption? Read »

I spoke with David J. Brailer, MD, former federal healthcare IT czar for the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), last Friday about ARRA, meaningful use criteria and the challenges the industry faces in 2010 and beyond. Read the article in Healthcare IT News. Read »

A recent study involving 60 interviewees revealed that the documentation focus of current ambulatory EMRs supports billing and not patient needs. Researchers at the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) concluded that the current reimbursement system drives EMR use for documenting billable services over care coordination, the opposite of what policymakers wanted. Read »

Yesterday, Dec. 30, CMS released a tome of proposed regulations for achieving Meaningful Use of EHR systems by providers and hospitals. For those who have been closely following the discussion of meaningful use by health IT industry analysts and experts, the list of requirements is likely not a surprise. Read »

Iowa's Medicaid program is set to receive approximately $1.16 million in federal matching funds to help it plan for the implementation of electronic health records through ARRA's incentive program. A number of other states are also on the verge of receiving their funds, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Read »

The biggest barrier to electronic health record (EHR) adoption has always been the upfront cost of implementing the system and the productivity lost during the learning curve. The rapidly changing healthcare landscape, however, may make cost the reason why physicians adopt health IT. Come again? Read »

It's no surprise that disproportionate share hospitals, whose population they serve through Medicaid comprises mostly poor people, are lagging in EHR adoption, which a new survey reported in Health Affairs. What is disconcerting, the survey goes on to reveal, is that the way ARRA is structured may actually prevent funds from going to these most-deserving hospitals. Read »