Nearly 90% of U.S. hospitals will need to install or upgrade their electronic health record systems during the next three years to comply with the federal government's meaningful use requirements, according to a new report by consulting firm Accenture, Health Data Management reports.
Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers and hospitals that demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records will qualify for incentive payments through Medicaid and Medicare.
Survey Details
For the report, Accenture surveyed 15 CIOs from health care systems that have reached at least Stage Four on a scale of EHR achievement developed by HIMSS Analytics.
The report found that most hospital CIOs:
- Underestimate the time and costs associated with implementing advanced health IT applications;
- Expressed concern about filling vacant health IT positions;
- Believed they had missed opportunities to conduct an enterprise EHR strategy;
- Expect to increase full-time employees for IT support by about 45% (Monegain, Health Data Management, 1/20).
Predictions
According to the report, previous analyses suggest that hospitals experience an 80% increase in IT operating expenses when they transition to an EHR-based system.
The report estimates that about 50% of U.S. hospitals are at risk of not meeting the meaningful use requirements by 2015, when penalties are set to kick in (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 1/21).