The US health IT industry is likely to receive a major boost with the implementation of the federal government supported Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption program from this year. According to CMS, Medicare has already disbursed as much as $75 m so far to providers who have demonstrated meaningful use of certified Electronic Health Record software. As more providers begin to participate in the EHR program, the health IT industry is expected to grow manifold in the next few years.

A global research firm, RNCOS, has, in fact, estimated in its new study, ‘US Healthcare IT Market Analysis’, that the health care IT industry in the country will grow 24 per cent from 2012 to 2014, with higher spending on Electronic Health Records and mobile health applications. The current spending on health care IT is about $80 billion a year, the study states.

Although the adoption of Electronic Health Record systems has been punctuated by practical hurdles, the long-term benefits of EHR and government’s seriousness to see its implementation through, is believed to lead more providers to invest in the technology. According to RNCOS, the revenues for health IT software are likely to go up from $6.8 billion in 2010 to $8.2 billion this year on the back of demand for Electronic Health Record software.

Also, with both comprehensive ambulatory EHR systems and non-ambulatory EHRs facilitating mobile health care with their web-based applications, their demand is only going to go up. In fact, mobile health care is becoming so popular, that it is set to be another key driver for health care IT growth, according to RNCOS.

The RNCOS study reveals that 72 per cent of all physicians in the US use smart phones; 20 per cent own iPads and there are already over 10,000 mobile health applications available (6,000 of them on iTunes). All this is fuelling the growth of mobile health care market while is expected to grow at 22 per cent from 2012 to 2014, which will also push up the growth of health IT.

Mobile health applications are now being increasingly used by providers to educate patients, collect data remotely, communicate with distant workers and trace disease outbreaks. So Comprehensive Ambulatory EHR systems and other EHR solutions, which enable physicians to deliver mobile health care, can be immensely useful in early and timely diagnosis and treatment of patients.

Last week, the American Medical Association launched a series of six video tutorials that instruct physicians how to choose and implement electronic health record (EHR) systems, InformationWeek reports.

AMA developed the videos as part of the organization’s continuing medical education activities. The video program is designed as a primer on health IT for small physician practices, according to Steven Stack of AMA’s board of trustees.

The videos :

• Present an overview of health IT’s effect on medicine;
• Help viewers examine their own practices and assess their IT needs;
• Assist viewers in selecting which type of EHR system best fits their practice;
• Explain how physicians and staff can plan and prepare for EHR implementation;
• Present a variety of implementation techniques; and
• Explain what to expect and plan for once EHR systems have launched (Lewis, InformationWeek, 5/9).

Source  :   http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/5/10/new-american-medical-association-videos-guide-physicians-on-ehr-use.aspx

The establishment of family-centered medical homes for children will need to be backed up by timely, secure, and comprehensive electronic health records (EHRs), the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) Council on Clinical IT says in a newly released policy statement.

The medical home “must centralize and support the primary care relationship between the patient/family and healthcare provider through well-designed and well-implemented health information management,” AAP said in its statement, which appears both online and in the May issue of the journal Pediatrics. For pediatricians, the core of such systems will be a “lifelong EHR.”

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However, many challenges and barriers need to be addressed to get more EHRs in pediatricians’ offices, AAP said.

First, the electronic systems should be capable of interoperability–of possessing the ability to share data among different practitioners, along with insurers, billing/scheduling systems, and health information exchanges, AAP said. In particular, one central organizing entity should be established to oversee specific technical, legislative and advocacy efforts.

Also, financial incentives should be used to lessen the risks that small practices will take in acquiring and using EHRs–and in maintaining changes and upgrades, AAP said. The technical challenges in implementing electronic information systems in ambulatory settings, it noted, “are daunting for many practices,” especially smaller ones.

Privacy laws will need to be balanced with concerns over confidentiality and sharing data with other providers. Also, clarification is needed on ownership of archived personal health information of children who have grown up and its reuse later on for quality care purposes.

Hospitals seeking to qualify for federal health IT incentives are attempting a range of approaches to help physicians and other health care providers become accustomed to using electronic health record systems, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs will qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments.

Hurdles to Physician EHR Use

Hospitals have found that some physicians are resistant to using EHRs because the systems require them to change how they conduct patient visits.

For example, EHRs often prompt clinicians to ask questions in a specific order as they input data into the system.

Different Approaches to Physician Training

To overcome obstacles to physician EHR use, some hospitals are providing training sessions that are:

• Available at all hours of the day;
• Comprised of small groups of up to four clinicians; or
• Run by other physicians.

In addition, some hospitals are converting vacant buildings into training facilities and some are using computer programs to train physicians on EHR use.

Some hospitals are making significant financial investments in health IT training.

Source  :   http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/3/15/hospitals-trying-out-different-strategies-to-promote-use-of-ehrs.aspx

A survey of studies from recent years shows that health information technology has benefited healthcare providers, even small practices, refuting other recent findings that suggest electronic health records and other health IT do not produce positive effects for patient care.

Previous studies focused on the early years of electronic health records (EHR) when functions were not as mature, according to one of the authors of the survey article, Dr. David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health IT.

Furthermore, the survey found evidence of emerging measurable benefits for small practices in addition to the larger health IT leaders, such as Kaiser Permanente and the Veterans Affairs Department, which have been the source of much experience data in the past, he said at a March 8 briefing sponsored by Health Affairs journal to announce its latest published studies.

“Two salient aspects of this more recent synthesis is that it brings the literature up to date and extends it beyond the few large systems that were the source of most information on the record for health information technology, and looks at it in a much more representative set of provider settings,” Blumenthal said.

In the survey of 154 peer-reviewed articles from 2007 to 2010, the article found that 92 percent of the studies reached conclusions that indicated overall positive effects with the use of health IT, he said.

As far as the  time and cost for deploying an EHR is concerned, Dr. Neil Fleming, vice president for healthcare research at Baylor Health Center System, said that it cost its HealthTexas primary care providers $10,325 per physician and took 134.3 hours to put the EHR into practice.

The time was split between chart loading and working with the physicians, he said. For a five-member practice, EHR implementation cost $7,857 and 130 hours.

“The level of support services from vendors is a critical factor,” Fleming said.

Another study concluded that more than four in five office-based physicians could qualify for the meaningful use incentives, said one of its authors, Brian Bruen, lead research scientist and lecturer at George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services. He suggested that ONC monitor where gaps in eligibility and use emerge.

Blumenthal said that regional extension centers, which ONC established to assist primary providers with overcoming the technical hurdles to adopting EHRs, have signed up 50,000 providers nationwide. And almost 34,000 providers have registered with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to participate in the meaningful use incentive program to date.

CMS has already paid $34 million in incentives under the Medicaid program to 216 Medicaid providers in four states, Blumenthal said.

Meaningful use puts a floor on the capacity and performance of electronic health systems and creates a market for the technology, he said. That market now consists of 450 certified EHRs and modules produced by 280 companies, of which 64 percent have fewer than 15 employees.

“Here is a microcosm of robust innovation in a market created by the new federal program of incentives,” he noted.

Current and past ONC staff members, in addition to Blumenthal, authored the paper, “The Benefits of Health Information Technology: A Review of the Recent Literature Shows Predominantly Positive Results.” The other authors were Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, director of ONC’s office of economic analysis, evaluation and modeling; Matthew Burke, ONC policy analyst; and Michael C. Hoaglin, former ONC policy analyst.

Despite the focus on health IT, the “human element” is critical to effective EHR implementation. The association between the assessment of provider satisfaction and negative findings is strong. That underscores the importance of strong leadership and staff “buy in” if systems are to successfully manage and see benefits from health IT, according to the paper.

There is also a need for studies that explore how to resolve the challenges of implementing health IT, the aspects and tools of EHRs that physicians find the most difficult to use, and the training and support that are needed for implementation.

Source    :    http://govhealthit.com/news/new-survey-shows-ehrs-benefit-even-small-providers