10 IT challenges for physician practices in 2012

November 08, 2011 | Michelle McNickle, Web Content Producer

By now, we know physician practices have slightly different rules when it comes to their IT, and just as their technology is different, so are the challenges they’ll face in the upcoming year.

Whether it’s meaningful use or simply finding the right personnel, 2012 promises to be chock-full of tricky IT issues for physician practices. Bob Dean, vice president of technology at ChartLogic, gives us the top 10 challenges for physician practices in the new year.

1. Choosing the right technology. According to Dean, physicians will face a significantly increased number of data reporting requirements in 2012 and 2013. "For practice leaders, the decision is not whether to purchase an EHR, but what type is right for their office," he said. “In addition to the technology, customer service will play a key role, since many small medical groups are unable to hire a full-time, or even part-time, IT staffer.” And when it comes to meaningful use requirements, Dean said providers should keep in mind they’ll have to collect vital signs during patient visits, in addition to nurses and medical assistants. “The surgeon will need to document his evaluation of the patient. So, surgeons should look for an EHR system that can speed up the data entry process through dictation or click minimization.”

2. Finding skilled, affordable IT personnel. Studies have shown the demand for consultants is at an all-time high, which is due in part to the rapid growth of the industry. “For example, the EHR market is projected to grow from $973 million in 2009 to $6.5 billion in 2012,” said Dean. A report from CHIME also found IT staffing shortages were putting projects at risk, and it noted a project shortage of 50,000 qualified IT personnel in the next two years. "The CHIME survey found that out of CIOs looking for personnel, 71 percent said they had open positions in clinical software implementation and support," said Dean. So what’s being done to combat the issue? "On the positive side, the federal Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has initiated four IT workforce development programs," said Dean.

3. Monitoring payments for ANSI-5010 compliance. "As of Jan. 1, 2012, all physicians and hospitals will be required to submit bills using the ANSI 5010 transaction standards," said Dean. "The move to the new electronic transaction standards was required by the coming 2013 deadline for ICD-10 codes." Many practices are depending on their practice management vendor or medical billing company to upgrade their system, he said, and although most vendors will be complaint, some smaller firms may not be ready for January 1. "In addition, it’s possible some payers may experience glitches in the first few days of the system,” Dean noted. “For these reasons, ask your PM vendor or billing agency for reports on key metrics."

Continued on the next page.

Reader Comments (2)Login to Post a Comment

aboyd says: Solution to Health IT Challenges

November 14, 2011 | 1:48PM GMT

SBR Health understands the challenges of integrating new technology into your practice.

We provide real-time, video communications solutions specialized for the healthcare industry with a focus on reduce readmissions, driving referrals and improving care coordination, care transition and post-discharge follow up. Our secure televideo platform links any combination of patients, clinicians, specialists and extended care givers together.

As our platform operates seamlessly in a variety of challenging environments, such as private homes, remote locations and vehicles, we can help you deliver the highest and most effective quality in patient care.

robforster says: Any near future chance of success?

November 14, 2011 | 1:26PM GMT

I currently am executive physician in an IT company yet practiced IM for 23 years. All of these challenges look high risk to me and capital intensive (forget Kaiser). Thus, the pace towards nirvana will be slow, fraught with high failure rate, productivity will fall as will incomes (unless they price themselves beyond our means)and many more IT and non IT barriers, e.g.,
1. Basic IT infrastructure in the collective wisdom of DC is the ACO, which will require a robust, stable, credible IT infrastructure for performance, finanace, risk rating, consumer outreach, care management, on and on
2. There are not enough physician leaders to align their peers for success
3. Government is unpredictable-may change rules on the run
4. The ROI for all of this is likely big time optimistic and ultimately we must go to regulatory control over unit price of all providers, inc. Pharma
If IT can enable the currently ideal delivery model, it will take decades to align and implement with stakeholders wishing to not to move.

We should start over with a clean sheet of paper if efficiency and quality are truly our goals. We have many models to extract from that are successful for all--affordable, quality and some at the expense of rapid access that Americans seem not to be able to tolerate. Can't have it all in this finite world with infinite perceived "needs."

One sour note, I have not seen a credible full risk assessment re: this approach to Affordabe Quality care. We often jump at intuition--often wrong. Digital records have their unique set of major risks.