Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are replacing outdated paper record systems. The U.S. government has mandated a nationwide switch to EMRs by 2015, and is prepared to offer up to $64,000 in incentives for medical practices that adopt the new technology.
The 2009 law creating the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive program established payment reductions that begin in 2015 for eligible physicians and other health professionals. The incentive structure pays Medicare bonuses of up to $44,000 over five years, although bonus payments sent after April 2013 are reduced by 2% because of the recent federal budget cuts known as sequestration.
Physicians must adopt EHRs and begin to meet meaningful use requirements by July 2014 to stop the penalty from taking effect in 2015. The penalty would reduce Medicare pay by 1% for the first year and grow to 3% by 2017. Starting in 2015, hospitals and practices are expected to be well along in demonstrating their meaningful use of EMRs — for this reason, the report concludes that most EMR prominent adoption will have been accomplished in two years’ time, and thus, the market will wane.
2015 Six Action Items for Every Medical Practice:
- Develop your patient portal.
- Implement an EHR, if you don't already have one.
- Develop your website.
- Get active on social media.
- Prioritize cyber security.
- Pay attention to your reputation.
- Identify EHR system fraud and determine "how certified EHR systems address these vulnerabilities.
- Review Medicaid and Medicare EHR incentive payments and ascertain if providers or hospitals received payments they should not have received.
- Analyze the IT security of community health centers funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration.
- Review the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services health information technology systems and verify the agency adopted necessary security controls to protect EHR data.
