Nearly 70% of health care providers expect to hire a professional services firm to help them achieve "meaningful use" of electronic health records, according to a new report from research firm KLAS, Healthcare IT News reports.
Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs will qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
Report Findings
For the report, KLAS researchers interviewed 118 health care providers (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 5/18). They found that integrated delivery networks had the highest need for external expertise, with 90% reporting plans to collaborate with consulting firms (Guerra, InformationWeek, 5/20).
The report also found that the number of health IT consulting firms has grown since 2007. Researchers noted that the most frequently considered consulting firm was Computer Sciences Corp., which received consideration in 17% of consulting deals (Healthcare IT News, 5/18).
Trend Toward Specific Tasks
Researchers noted that many health care providers already have achieved some level of health IT adoption and now are seeking to hire smaller groups to complete specific tasks.
Mike Smith -- report author and KLAS general manager of financial and services research -- said many health care organizations hire consultants to help bolster physician adoption of clinical information systems (InformationWeek, 5/20).