Fifty-seven percent of physicians participating in Medicare used an electronic health record system at their primary practice location in 2011, according to a new Government Accountability Office report, Modern Healthcare reports.
About the Report
The report is based on a sample of 2,000 physicians who participated in Medicare last year.
The results align with figures from a 2011 CDC report, which also found that 57% of all office-based physicians were using an EHR system at their primary practice location last year (Daly, Modern Healthcare, 6/24).
Report Details
Of the 57% of physicians using an EHR system last year, 90% used the systems to document evaluation and management services, the GAO report found (Roney, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/25).
It also found that 22% of the sampled Medicare physicians first began using an EHR system to document evaluation and management services in 2011, the year that CMS started issuing meaningful use incentive payments. Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR systems can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
Of the physicians who were using an EHR system to document evaluation and management services in 2011, 73% were using a certified EHR system, the report found.
The report also found that many physicians with EHR systems reported manually assigning evaluation and management codes, even though many EHR systems can perform such functions (Modern Healthcare, 6/24).