A new survey of senior IT executives of large "wired" hospital organizations suggests that hospitals needing to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) to achieve "meaningful use" face major costs and challenges, according to management and consulting firm Accenture.
Accenture's health practice division conducted in-person interviews with chief information officers (CIOs) from April through August 2010. The CIOs were affiliated with U.S. health systems having annual revenues of $1 billion to $15 billion that were advanced users of multiple healthcare IT systems.
The primary message from these healthcare IT leaders: Change management is as critical to success as information technology planning and execution. Marc Probst, CIO of Intermountain Healthcare of Salt Lake City, was quoted as saying that no one person in the healthcare delivery chain was exempt from being EHR savvy.
Other key findings of the survey included the following:
- Most major health systems underestimate the time and costs associated with implementing advanced EHR functions.
- IT operating costs may increase as much as 80% while transitioning to EHR adoption.
- There is a significant lack of qualified IT personnel to support EHR implementation. The competition for top IT talent over the next 12 to 24 months will be fierce, as an estimated 90% of hospitals will be installing or upgrading EHR systems.
- Successful EHR adoption means working and thinking differently to optimize the investment over a long period of time.
The survey showed that exemplary hospital CIOs and health systems change the way IT technology is used to deliver healthcare, according to Mark Knickrehm, global managing director of Accenture's Health practice. He warned that the interpretation of "meaningful use of EHRs is often wrongly characterized as a check-the-box qualification for stimulus monies."
Accenture stated that less than 1% of health systems achieved mature use of EHRs in 2009, and by its own estimate, approximately half of U.S. hospitals are at risk of not meeting the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) meaningful use requirements by 2015. Medicare-based penalties to be imposed as a part of healthcare reform are estimated at $3 million to $4 million per year for a 500-bed hospital, making implementation a primary concern for many hospital executives.
By Cynthia E. Keen
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
January 26, 2011
Related Reading
Many hospitals, doctors plan to adopt EHR, January 14, 2011
HIMSS Analytics now tracks hospital meaningful use adoption, November 16, 2010
U.S. hospital CIOs concerned about IT staff shortages, October 12, 2010
Report: 2% of U.S. hospitals meet 'meaningful use' criteria, August 30, 2010
Hospitals need to scramble on stimulus fund goals, March 3, 2010
Copyright © 2011 AuntMinnie.com
