DENVER  – The price tag remains the single most significant barrier to electronic medical record system adoption by physicians today, two leaders of prominent physician organizations said Tuesday.

William F. Jessee, MD, president and CEO of the Medical Group Management Association, and Douglas Henley, MD, executive vice president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, were part of a panel speaking to the members of the American Health Information Management Association at their annual meeting here.

With doctors facing an average 5 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement in 2007, the $32,600 estimated cost per physician to adopt an EMR, plus additional annual costs for maintenance, is off-putting, said Jessee. It’s not that physicians are “technological Luddites,” he said.

Jessee noted that vendors’ quoted prices typically run 20 percent higher than estimated. A hard-to-perceive ROI - or return on investment, an almost certain change in workflow, and a still fragmented market add to the resistance, he said.

Henley’s remarks closely mirrored Jessee’s. The AAFP, which has more than 50,000 members, had a goal of having 50 percent of its members adopt electronic medical record systems by 2005. It achieved 30 percent adoption.

“We are now focused on the next 30 percent,” Henley said. “Half of them say they are ready to write the check in the next 12 months”

A recent MGMA study estimated that 75 percent of medical practices are paper-based. Fourteen percent have what Jessee called a true electronic record with a relational database. The rest employ a combination of paper and automation in their offices,

Both organizations are working to boost IT adoption rate among their members, and despite the stated roadblocks, they offered reasons for optimism.

“Forces are converging to accelerate change,” said Jessee, who pointed to federal initiatives from Congress (both parties), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid; the Office of the National Health Information Coordinator; and the American Health Information Community.

Jessee also mentioned certification of products by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology as helping to reassure physicians regarding the functionality of products on the market today.

Among Jessee’s laundry list of pros for EMR adoption:
-    Safety improves
-    Workflow improves
-    Productivity improves (after about six months)
-    Charge capture improves
-    Transcription costs go down
-    Records are easily accessed (not so likely to be in the trunk of a physician’s car)
-    Rx management is streamlined
-    Patient satisfaction is enhanced

Jessee and Henley agreed that insurers could encourage physicians to adopt electronic medical records by creating incentives for those groups that do “take the plunge.”

“We’ve got to adopt health information technology, and get on with it,” Henley said.