Healthcare IT NewsHealthcare IT News
TwitterFacebookLinkedInHealthcareITNews International
  • Home
  • Sections
    • Industry News
    • Hospitals & IDNs
    • Physician Practices & Ambulatory Care
    • Payers
    • Vendors
    • International
  • Issues
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
  • Resource Central
    • Research
    • White Papers
    • Web Seminars
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Newsletters
  • Feeds
  • Special Reports
  • About
Select Your Homepage
Search eConnect
Login | Register
Home » News » Industry News | Hospitals & IDNs | Physician Practices & Ambulatory Care
Receive News By Email

  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • RSS Icon
  

Hospitals, vendors - not Washington - to drive EMR use

December 18, 2009 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

Related Links

  • Kalorama report

Suggested Content

  • Family doc to testify on why EHRs are essential
  • Vendor Notebook - InterSystems updates CACHE object database for enhanced reporting
  • Vendor Notebook - Meta Health delivers patient chart software to Pakistan
  • Vendor Notebook - IntelliDOT BMA now live at 55 hospitals
  • Vendor Notebook - MicroMD PM to come to 23 Henry Schein locations
  • NCQA recognizes 51 sites with top patient-centered medical home status
  • New York Blues launch on-demand online care
  • Kiwi companies bring healthcare IT expertise to the U.S.
  • Twitter study highlights need for monitoring health info dissemination
  • Vendor Notebook - Hospital signs on for more bedside education from Patient Portal

NEW YORK – Washington can encourage physicians to buy electronic medical record systems, but it is the vendors and hospitals that affiliate with physicians that will ultimately determine if they go electronic, according to a new report from healthcare market research firm Kalorama Information.

The report, EMR 2010 (Market Analysis, ARRA Incentives, Key Players, and Important Trends), represents the second time this year that Kalorama has surveyed EMR markets and is a reforecast of its predictions from earlier in the year, made before the U.S. government announced HITECH Act incentives for physicians who use EMR.

"There's a lot of focus right now on the HITECH incentives, but we think what vendors and health systems who piggyback off these incentives is even more important," said Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information.
According to the report, the EMR market will come in at $13.8 billion for 2009, which is not up to its full potential. Solo practicing or small group practice-based physicians have fewer savings to reap than large healthcare systems, but the change in their workflow will likely reduce short-term productivity when they make the switch.
 
The announcement of government incentives of up to $18,000 in increased Medicare payments to doctors for the meaningful use of EMR has created interest. But these incentives represent future payouts for EMR systems that physicians have to pay for today, at a time when patients are paying bills slower, expenses are up and some physicians are laying off staff. Most surveys indicate low usage of EMR among U.S. physicians.

 "A body at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an outside force," said Carlson. "We think that hospitals and large health systems will need to have parallel incentives in order for the EMR concept to happen in a meaningful way."

North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System in New York is offering subsidies of up to $40,000 over five years to its affiliated (not employed) physicians who implement EMR systems. This does not stop any physician from collecting funds from CMS as well. Tufts Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston also have their own EMR incentive programs.
 
These are likely to  be emulated by other health systems, Carlson says.
The report also notes that vendor actions have piggybacked on the government incentives, enhancing their effect. So far, offering 'stimulus guarantees,' where the vendor assures the customer that the system will earn stimulus incentives from CMS, has garnered interest.
 
Athenahealth Inc, ChartLogic, e-MDs Inc. and GE Healthcare, are among vendors who have adopted some form of this strategy. Given the precarious state of some physician practices, Kalorama Information expects vendors to go further, offering aggressive financing and/or installment of the capital outlay to attract small group practices.

 Kalorama's report, "EMR 2010 (Market Analysis, ARRA Incentives, Key Players, and Important Trends)," has market projections, pricing comparisons, and profiles of major competitors.
 
 

Related Topics:
  • Bruce Carlson
  • electronic health record
  • New York
  • Washington

Reader Comments (1)Login to Post a Comment

FPiragibe says:

December 31, 2009 | 7:22AM GMT

The Privacy Issue - Again

Maybe promoting the use and defining technical and functional characteristics are up to the market players, but security and privacy requirements, as well as effective measures for their enforcement, are definitely up to Washington, London, Canberra, Brasilia or anywhere where the state might be represented. Making money is a sound motivation for anyone, but this can't be the sole reason in this type of business. The electronic health record is too valuable, and too sensitive, an asset to be kept by "success at all costs" players only.

Login to Post a Comment

Most Popular

Latest Headlines
Most Popular
  • CCHIT announces three new certification programs for EHRs
  • Expert weighs in on data loss at South Shore Hospital
  • NCQA recognizes 51 sites with top patient-centered medical home status
  • CMS will start incentive payments in May 2011
  • Grant will connect Los Angeles County clinics to HIE
  • Vendor Notebook - Proventys partners with NCCN for CDS Oncology system
  • Deloitte becomes Common Security Framework Assessor
  • EHR at work at 2010 National Scout Jamboree
  • Insurer to invest $1M in IT-based medical home initiative
  • HHS help on the way for online insurance exchanges
receive news by email

Resource Central

  • White Papers
    Driving Value Across Your Enterprise. Document Management: A Core IT System
  • White Papers
    IT Savings Made Simple – Rethink your user Desktop
  • White Papers
    Desktop Virtualization – Overcoming 5 Real World Challenges
  • White Papers
    The HITECH Act: A meaningful opportunity for the oncology community
  • White Papers
    Virtualizing Healthcare IT to Increase Productivity, Patient Satisfaction and Compliance
More Resources
Syndicate content

HEALTHCARE IT JOB SPOT

  • Clinical Informatics Analyst - South Peninsala Hospital - Homer, AK
  • Medical Director for Information Systems - Cejka Executive Search for Spectrum Health Medical Group - Grand Rapids, MI
  • HIM Assistant Director - Froedert Memorial Lutheran Hospital - Pyramid Healthcare Solutions - Milwaukee, Nationwide
  • RAC Coder I - Cleveland Clinic - Independance, OH
  • Information and Referral Specialist - Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia - Atlanta, GA
more jobs

  • ICD10Watch

    ICD10Watch.com is your news source for all the latest developments on ICD-10 transition planning, events, technology and more.

  • Healthcare Finance News

    Healthcare Finance News is the leading news source for healthcare's financial managers.

  • EHRWatch.com

    EHRWatch.com offers news, commentary and community participation on the developments in electronic health records.

  • HITECHWatch

    HITECHWatch provides practical news on the stimulus package and the incentives that it offers to healthcare providers.

  • Facebook

    Join Healthcare IT News on Facebook to connect with other readers!

  • NHINWatch

    Visit NHINWatch.com for coverage of the Nationwide Health Information Network.

  • Mobile Health Watch

    Stay up to date on the latest mobility news at Mobile Health Watch.

  • MedTech Media

    Visit our company site to learn more about MedTech Media.

  • LinkedIn

    Join our LinkedIn group to connect with other readers. Click here to join the group.

     

Marketplace

  • Home
  • Issues
  • Resource Central
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Site Map
  • Privacy Policy
Healthcare IT News is a publication of MedTech Media.
For more information about MedTech Media and its publications, please visit medtechmedia.com.
©2010 MedTech Media