A recent report shows that despite the big push for health IT adoption, only 2 percent of hospitals in the U.S. can meet the federal government's criteria for meaningful use of EHRs. Are you surprised?
The industry shouldn't be surprised by these findings. Nor should we be discouraged. Rather, we should use the findings as a lightning rod to focus our energies on helping hospitals fill in the gaps and get to meaningful use.
First, let's put things in perspective. The analyzed data was from March 2009. The HITECH Act was signed into law under ARRA in February 2009. Significant activity has spiked since the federal government's official push for health IT adoption more than a year ago.
Second, hospital implementation of an EMR or EHR system is a complex, multi-year endeavor. How many hospitals are in the middle of a big implementation that will get them to meaningful use in 2011, 2012 and/or 2013? Hard to say, but I'm sure those hospitals will push up the percentage.
Third, there are tons more resources at the community, regional, state and federal levels for hospitals to access to help them get to meaningful use of EHRs much faster than the hospitals that basically had to do it on their own. Many of these resources were created by HHS, including the regional extension centers and the Beacon Communities.
Fourth, the EMR and EHR market is maturing, and vendors are understanding that they have to get it right by their customers or shutter their doors because their superior competitors will run away with the lion's share, thanks to better products and guarantees.
Should we as an industry be concerned about the measly 2 percent? Absolutely. But it doesn't mean we should further relax the final ruling on meaningful use. Everything about health IT has evolved. We need to continue to evolve and collaborate. This is one of those instances in which helping one another strengthens the whole healthcare delivery system. And that's good for the patients and the rest of the industry stakeholders.
Photo by TheTruthAbout… courtesy of Creative Commons license.
