Sabtu, 29 Januari 2011

Is now the time for health IT?

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released statistics which showed that 81% of the nation’s hospitals and 41% of office-based physicians intend to register for federal incentive payments for adoption & meaningful use of certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology. David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health IT, in keeping true to staying abreast of technology posted a YouTube speech in which he laid out the work that was being done by the ONC & the promising statistics for Health IT Implementation. Realizing that changing ones practice around is a big investment with much hard work, Dr. Blumenthal encouraged those still on the sidelines that : "Now is the time. ... Never again will the same level of resources and talent be devoted to helping providers make the switch to health IT."
For those small primary care practices, where the vast majority of physicians work, hoping to move to the next step in medicine, NOW IS THE TIME FOR HEALTH IT!
Personally, I would want receive the carrot (incentive payments) rather than having to just end up with the stick (the post incentive penalties). That is why I’m perplexed at why the percentage of office based physicians in the statistics are so low.
I’m curious to hear what you think. What are some reasons you believe that only 41% of office-based physicians intend to register for the federal incentive program? Is it the time? The investment? The cost? Or something else?

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