New study highlights ways to increase assistance to small practices
OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL – Earlier this year, Healthcare IT News profiled several small EHR vendors that, in a market dominated by Epics and Cerners, were using their modest sizes to their advantage.
Small firms can "move more quickly," and "be more personal" and their customers "can usually get me, the CEO, on the phone to discuss any issues they have," said Jack Smyth of Houston-based Spring Medical Systems. Added Jay Volk, president of Westlake, Ohio-based Workflow.com, "as president, I have personally done several of our installs."
According to a recent study from CompTIA, the nonprofit IT trade association, there's still plenty of room left for similar small IT solution providers to make their mark on healthcare.
Unfortunately, government policy has so far "restricted their ability to enter the health IT market on a large scale."
Barriers to that market, pegged at $34 billion this year, include paltry resources for retraining IT professionals, an incomplete integration of those professionals into regional extension centers (RECs) and data breach provisions that place unfair burdens on them, the study contends.
CompTIA argues that federal policies should allow medical providers to focus on patients, while leaving more room for the IT industry to be included as a full partner in the transition EHRs.
Indeed, "several minor changes to existing policy would make great strides towards bringing small IT solution providers into the fold to help advance the transition and remove some of the burden from small medical providers," according to the paper, titled Health IT: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers.
“Federal policies should reflect the important role small IT service providers can play in the health IT transition and create avenues for them to fully participate,” said Elizabeth Hyman, vice president, public advocacy, CompTIA, and co-author of the white paper.
“Doing so will help to expand adoption, particularly by small medical providers, and increase the quality of care to patients,” she added. “Participation by small IT providers will also help drive job creation and retention, keeping America’s small business backbone as an economic engine for generations to come.”
The CompTIA study emphasizes the need for federal policies to understand the link between small medical providers and small IT vendors. "Policies that foster a partnership between these small businesses will not only allow medical providers to focus on patients, but will also help to grow the economy and keep the U.S. IT industry competitive within a $3 trillion global IT market," it asserts.
The trade group argues that participation by small- and medium sized practices "has not achieved full potential," with just 41 percent of small medical providers projected to be compliant with digital health records by 2014. CompTIA quotes National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD, conceding that small practices “often lack staff with IT training and don’t have the background or the time to do it themselves.”
But the burden of IT implementation should not fall on medical staff, taking them away from their primary focus, the report argues. Instead, vendors have "the ability to help fill the health IT void." Indeed, some estimates suggest the U.S. will need 50,000 more health IT workers to help medical providers achieve meaningful use.
One key to bridging that gap is to make better use of RECs. Alas, "in some cases, RECs are doing very little to establish a connection between small IT firms and small medical providers," which leaves those practices "without a vital component of a successful EHR transition," according to the report. At the same time, "while most RECs identify themselves as vendor neutral, many have preferred vendor lists that vary significantly in terms of preferred vendors and overall structure."
CompTIA calls for a "universal commitment by the RECs to integrate small IT firms into the transition," and "a uniform process that facilitates communication and outreach to all parties involved."
RECs "should have a list of local solution providers that are readily available to medical providers," according to the report. "These lists should be neutral and provide a diverse menu of local options to assist with the EHR transition. RECs should also offer guidance and training to IT solution providers on meaningful use, data breach, and notification standards."
Additionally, "the RECs should actively work to partner medical providers with IT solution providers and resist attempting to serve as the IT solution provider themselves. In some cases, RECs are establishing venues (similar to job fairs) that would connect these two vital components of the EHR transition, which is a model that should be used throughout the country."
For more on this topic: bit.ly/topic-arra
