With the release of the proposed rule on meaningful use, the glimmering potential of $44,000 in maximum bonuses for qualifying physicians is that much closer.
The question is, will the incentives make it worth a doctor's time, money and energy to adopt healthcare IT?
Right now, many small physician practices are beginning to ask that question, if they haven't already. If you are one of them, don't forget to add this into the equation. If you don't adopt by 2017, you will be penalized.
According to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, if eligible professionals have not become meaningful users of electronic health records by 2014, they will not receive full Medicare payments beginning in 2015.
According to ARRA, the reduction in the fee schedule for doctors who don't adopt is this:
- In 2015, they will receive 99 percent of their Medicare reimbursement;
- In 2016, they will receive 98 percent of reimbursement;
- In 2017 and each subsequent year, they will receive 97 percent of reimbursement.
On the other side of the equation, if you want to get bonuses, the sooner you adopt, the more money you will make in bonuses. If you adopt in 2011 or 2012, you can still get the most money possible. The later you start, however, the more you will be required to do each year. You will have limited ability to allow for a learning curve. It will be like jumping into the deep water, versus wading in from the shallow end.
Resources are scarce. Doctors already face a very real 21.2 percent Medicare pay cut in March, if Congress doesn't act to fix it. There are concerns from advocacy groups that doctors will drop from Medicare. For some doctors, that's not an option. Medicare patients are their bread and butter.
My advice would be this. Don't delay adopting EHRs because you don't understand the proposed laws or you think it will be too difficult. Defaulting is not an option. This is a tsunami wave that is coming your way. Your only real decision is whether or not you want to be prepared in advance.
If your legal counsel and financial analysts add up the numbers for your bottom line, and they deem that the return on investment for EHR adoption is not worth it to you, then let that be a deliberate decision on your part.
That said, if you want just a few more months to be in denial, you could wait until the final rule on meaningful use comes out in late spring of this year. After that, there will be no more doubts or speculations on what will be required. It will be a done deal.
