Implications of IT on Health Systems and Physicians

Amy Walker MS, RN, CPHQ, FACHE, NEA-BC

HITECH Act? hmm, sounds familiar… Signed into law February

2009 as part of ARRA Goal

90% of U.S. physicians and 70% of hospitals using EHR by 2019

How? Provide $19 Billion to

doctors and hospitals through DHS to implement EHR by 2011

How did we get here? Greater use of EHR is pragmatic

Improve patient care Enhance records management Easier to enforce compliance with standards Improve productivity and performance Cut costs over the long haul

Next: The Path to Public Policy

Creating Public Policy (simplified)

Sent to highest ranking official (President or Governor)

Demonstrating Meaningful Use Matters Summary of Meaningful Use Criteria

http://healthpolicyandreform.nejm.org/?attachment_id=3742

Examples Record patient demographics

>50% structured data Report clinical quality measures to CMS or states

2011: aggregate, 2012: submit electronically Use EHR to identify patient-specific education resources

Provide to >10% of patients Provide patients with e-health data upon request

>50% within 3 days of request

What does it mean to CIS & Providers? Increased reliance on IT

Greater need for informatics professionals

SWOT analysis should come sooner rather than later

Suddenly, certifications matters more than ever

More governance / new regulatory and reimbursement guidelines

Meaningful Use

Where’s the money going to come from?

Grants Loans Penalti

es

Incentive payments based on three criteria: 1. Use of EHR meets HHS standards. 2. Connectivity to other providers to share a

patient’s health history in a secure electronic environment.

3. Capability to provide regular reports on the use of technology to the HHS.

But, money is a two-way street… There will be penalties for those who fail to

adopt HIT by the year 2015. Program depends on some providers not meeting

Meaningful Use in order to pump money back into regulation/enforcement system

Additional civil penalties (enforced by state attorney general) may be imposed for collecting the wrong patient data With 5 levels of severity, penalties start at $100

and top out at $50,000 per violation with a cap of $1.5 million!

Meaningful Use Timeline

Image Credit: managemypractice.com

How do I get there from here? Office of the National Coordinator for Health

Information Technology has approved two entities as able to review and certify EHRs Certification Commission for Health Information

Technology (CCHIT) Drummond Group Inc.

Unless your current system is homegrown, piecemeal or older, your EHR vendor is likely already pursuing certification

(and/or trying to sell you a new or upgraded system – which they promise will be certifiable)

Things you need to know…1. Systems only need to be certified once.2. All required functionality must be present in

order to obtain certification. True even if you have no use for a particular

functionality.3. If the vendor isn’t seeking certification, you

can – but you have to pay.4. However, if others have the same system, you

can share the costs.

Good Source for FAQ and Answers: http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/

onc_regulations_faqs/3163

Impact on Care Delivery Easier to share patient information

Therefore, easier to coordinate patient care across multiple providers

E-health records can help improve patient/caregiver relations

Yes, we have an aging population…but a greater percentage of the population is tech savvy, more informed and expects immediacy There’s really no other option than to make

records readily accessible (and secure). Greater efficiency. Enhances ability to document at the point of

care

Questions?

Thank you!