Nearly 80% of health care providers using ambulatory electronic health record systems say they are confident that they will meet the federal meaningful use requirements by the end of the year, according to a report from research firm KLAS, Medscape reports.
Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments (Lowes, Medscape, 4/13).
For the survey, KLAS interviewed nearly 600 health care providers who use 25 different ambulatory EHRs (Goedert, Health Data Management, 4/13).
Key Findings
The survey found that:
- About 50% of respondents said they have implemented a clinical alert system; and
- Less than 35% of respondents said patients have electronic access to their health records.
Respondents gave their EHR systems an average score of 6.7 out of 9 for their ability to perform the two functions (Medscape, 4/13).
According to the report, users of ambulatory EHRs from Epic and Greenway appear to be best positioned to qualify for meaningful use incentives, while users of systems from Praxis, SRSsoft, simplifyMD and LSS Data appear to be the least prepared (Health Data Management, 4/13).