The federal government has allocated billions of dollars under 2009 economic stimulus package to encourage physicians nationwide to adopt electronic health records systems, but some physicians remain reluctant to make the switch from their paper records systems, the Boston Globe reports.
Physicians are concerned about the cost of adopting and managing EHRs, as well as the potential losses in productivity.
Under the federal stimulus package, physicians who demonstrate "meaningful use" of EHRs would be eligible for $44,000 in incentive payments, while hospitals would be eligible for $2 million or more. Health care providers who fail to adopt EHR systems by 2015 would begin to face penalties in the form of reduced Medicare payments.
Some physicians say the stimulus payments are inadequate when compared to the potential cost of setting up new EHR systems, which can reach $100,000 or more, according to the Globe.
Meanwhile, some provider groups, including the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association, have urged the federal government to relax its requirements for federal stimulus funding and extend the deadline for stimulus payments from 2015 to 2017.
However, health IT advocates warn that physician reluctance to adopt EHRs could threaten the goals of the federal stimulus package and the new health reform law. In addition, patient advocates note that research has shown that EHRs improve the quality of care and help save lives.
According to the Globe, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the federal government also could save $12 billion in health payments over 10 years with widespread use of EHRs (Arnst, Boston Globe, 5/4).