Data / Empowering High Performance

It has been a whirlwind 12 months for the healthcare information technology sector since the announcement of the American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) HITECH Act, which introduced $27.3 billion in reimbursement incentives to providers. It has the propensity to be the most significant piece of legislation to impact the overall healthcare provider space in recent history, with the overriding goal being to drive healthcare quality, efficiency, equity and safety. 

What will the overall outcome be? Where will providers be by 2014? Will patient EHRs be achieved in this timeframe? I have heard praise, criticism and questions from the market as a whole as the picture has been painted. We have all witnessed as a by-product of this legislation the new buzzwords of the healthcare technology community - "meaningful use" and "interoperability," demonstrated again and again at the HIMSS conference in Atlanta earlier this year.

In an effort to gain insight into the provider's perceptions of this legislation since its inception last year and the release of the expanded use definitions in December 2009, Porter conducted two studies. The baseline study was conducted in March 2009, with the follow-up study conducted in March of 2010 to gauge the impact on the provider community. Approximately, 150 executives participated.  Porter, in conjunction with Billian's HealthDATA, hosted a webinar moderated by Healthcare IT News in March, presenting highlights of the study to an audience of over 250 participants from the provider, vendor and consulting communities. This attendance in itself demonstrates the market's interest and thirst for information on what others providers are experiencing and their plans for the future.

Observations from the study fell into four key areas:
•    legislation as a whole;
•    meaningful use requirements;
•    impact on providers; and
•    impact on healthcare technology vendors.

(You can download the webinar's complimentary white paper, "The Road Traveled: Providers' Perceptions of ARRA Legislation from Inception to Meaningful Use," by clicking here.)

Providers as a whole agree that the HITECH Act will promote the adoption of EHR technology in both inpatient and ambulatory care settings and will stimulate the electronic exchange of information. However, the overriding theme from the provider community is that the bar has been set high for providers to implement the technology and operational requirements to meet the timeframes and criteria being mandated for the initial Stage 1 occurring in 2011 - and the race is on!  

Each provider will have different challenges to attain meaningful use based on what their current baseline state is today.  Of those we spoke with, a third had an EHR implemented; of those, 20 percent felt they were using their EHR in a manner that would meet meaningful use.  These providers represent the most progressive and best -positioned organizations in the market, and even they will have their own set of challenges ensuring their organizations are using the most recent release of software that is CCHIT certified.  When will the CCHIT release be available? What will the impact be to the organization - resources, time, cost, complexity of the upgrade due to interdependencies?

It is because of this uniqueness in each facility's current-state base line technology and operations environment that a large portion of the provider community will be challenged to meet timelines with this "one size fits all" approach.  Would a more flexible or tiered implementation approach be more attainable for Stage 1 requirements?

In conjunction with this concern, there is an overriding concern among providers regarding resource demands and availability. Will demand exceed supply? Will resources be knowledgeable? Will quality suffer? This concern exists not only about internal staffing within the provider organization, but also about the vendor community. Many providers are concerned that vendors will not be able to meet the demands created to support the timelines outlined. Another concern is whether the solutions will be CCHIT-compliant. Providers are dependent upon vendors to deliver compliant solutions.

The success of the government's health IT plan rests on the community as a whole, vendors providing compliant products and providers deploying solutions in the timelines laid out to meet requirements to receive incentive payments. It will take a village comprised of providers, vendors and consultants to drive the overall success of this initiative and the overall outcome of deploying technology and operational changes to improve the quality of care and overall cost effectiveness of care delivery.  No single party - provider or vendor - will be able to achieve independently. It is a shared responsibility and challenge. The next frontier to be crossed will be the interoperability and health information exchange that will occur in the now and in the future once this foundation is established.

There is a lot to do in the next five years and beyond. This legislation to date has been the catalyst to move the healthcare industry forward, encouraging technology adoption. Only time will tell the overall success.  Porter will continue to monitor the provider community as we all travel down this road to "meaningful use."

Allison Norfleet
Vice President, Business Development
Porter Research
404-353-2949
anorfleet@porterresearch.com

http://www.porterresearch.com/Resource_Center/Blog_News/Blog/The_Road_Less_Travelled_to_an_EHR_is_Now_a_Race_to_Meaningful_Use.html



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