Carrot Better Than Stick With Meaningful Use Criteria, says Kalorama Information in EMR 2010

Aug. 24, 2010 - PRLog -- Final meaningful use rules for EMR that relax criteria slightly reflect a more "realistic approach" given the slow adoption rates of electronic medical records among physicians over the past few years, according to market research group Kalorama Information.  The healthcare market research publisher had predicted that the market will grow to $25 billion by 2014 and believes that an achievable but progressively challenging criteria for incentives is optimal.  

The proposed rule would have required doctors to e-prescribe 75 percent of their drug orders to meet incentive requirements, the final rule lowered that threshold to 40 percent. Also, CMS’s proposed rule had required physicians to meet 25 “meaningful use” objectives, with hospitals asked to meet 23 markers. The final rule splits those objectives into a group of core measures — 15 for doctors and 14 for hospitals — and offers a menu of 10 additional measures, from which providers can choose five to report.   HHS has also indicated that rules would be tightened the following year.  

"I think most people watching how healthcare IT has worked in the past would say the final rules are realistic, “ said Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information. "The goals are reachable, but at the same time, HHS is taking care not to issue credits merely for buying software.  And the better the incentives work, the better the impact on the market and the companies competing in EMR systems."

Accorrding to Kalorma's review of several physican EMR surveys for the past three years, prior to incentives only about a third of physicians used EMR and perhaps a tenth used electronic records exclusively, though incentives are expected to change that.  Physicians who meet criteria will be able to collect incentives as high as $44,000 starting in 2011.  Those who do not use EMR systems according to the criteria will face a 3% reduction in payments in 2015.

"The HITECH Act incentives are a carrot and a stick system,” said Carlson.  “With any such system it is far preferable to get maximum use of the carrot and reserve the stick for what is hopefully just a few holdouts who do not comply after given multiple chances to do so.  Otherwise, what was a well-thought out policy would become just a mandate.”

Kalorama Information’s report EMR 2010 with company profiles, trend information and forecasts on the EMR market is available at http://www.kaloramainformation.com/EMR-ARRA-Incentives-25....

# # #

About Kalorama Information
Kalorama Information (www.kaloramainformation.com) supplies the latest in independent market research in the life sciences, as well as a full range of custom research services. We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KaloramaInfo.

Please direct all media inquiries to:
Andrea Hiller
(212) 807-2673
press@kaloramainformation.com
www.kaloramaInformation.com