Preparing for Meaningful Use: 2010 Initiatives


Based on the "Meaningful Use" assessments that The Huntzinger Management Group (HMG) has performed for several providers and our review of multiple studies on Meaningful Use Readiness (less than 2 percent of hospitals have comprehensive EHRs in all units; less than 8 percent have basic EHRs), HMG has concluded that most hospitals and physicians are not ready to implement the Meaningful Use guidelines that were released by ONCHIT in early January 2010.

Qualifying for Meaningful Use incentives doesn't have to be a daunting task. HMG has helped healthcare systems navigate the Meaningful Use guidelines and offers the following background and approach for your consideration.

Background Facts:  Readiness of Hospitals and Physicians

Below are summaries of two studies that show penetration of EHRs as a measure of readiness of hospitals and physicians.  First, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, David Blumenthal, stated the following facts in the April 2009 edition of The News England Journal of Medicine:

  • Hospitals:
     
    • Less than 2% have comprehensive EHRs in all units
    • Less than 8% have basic EHRs
    • Less than 17% have CPOE fully implemented
    • 75% have electronic lab/image reports
  • Ambulatory Settings:

    • 4% physicians have fully-functional EHR
    • 13% have basic EMR's
    • 16% purchased/not implemented
    • 26%  plan to purchase within 2 years


And a study of 58 hospitals conducted between October and December 2009 by Computer Sciences Corp. survey "Are Hospitals Ready for Meaningful Use of EHRs?" documents a limited number of hospitals that demonstrated the capabilities required for meaningful use. 

Currently, 32 percent of all hospitals say they use some of the capabilities required to demonstrate "Meaningful Use" of electronic health records to qualify for incentive payments under the ARRA federal stimulus package.  However, the graph below documents that smaller hospitals are further behind in their progress toward meeting Meaningful Use criteria and have fewer resources available to comply with the requirements than large or medium sized hospitals.


Source: CSC, "Are Hospitals Ready for Meaningful Use of EHRs?"

HMG Meaningful Use Approach and Deliverables

You don't have to go this alone.  HMG has developed a customized approach and already completed several Meaningful Use assessments, allowing our clients to quickly determine the financial impact, capital and resource requirements and key next steps to "Meaningful User" attainment.  The following is a summary of the Benefits you will receive from a HMG assessment, the Approach we take, and the Key Deliverable (Meaningful Use Roadmap).

Benefits:

  • Educate your leadership regarding the key components of the ARRA HITECH Stimulus Package

  • Assess the financial impact (costs, potential stimulus funds - hospital and owned -physicians) that the ARRA will  have on your facility

  • Develop a detailed Meaningful Use Roadmap that will identify key projects and next steps to "Meaningful User" attainment

Approach:

  1. Review existing and relevant documents
         a.   Financial information
         b.   IT systems information
         c.   Patient discharge information

  2. Meet with key organization representatives and staff to:
         a.   Assess information collected at specific care delivery locations
         b.   Assess options to meet 2011 requirements for Meaningful Use through existing
                Systems and capabilities
         c.   Determine reporting capabilities and responsibilities

  3. Compile information and conduct research

  4. Present initial findings and recommendations to executive sponsor

  5. Develop initial Meaningful Use Roadmap

  6. Present Meaningful Use Roadmap to executive management, to include the following deliverables:
         a.   Education on ARRA Meaningful Use
         b.   Potential impact to health system
         c.   Findings and recommendations
         d.   Detailed Roadmap with next steps and timing

Key Deliverable: HMG Meaningful Use Roadmap

In developing your Meaningful Use Roadmap, HMG will assess the following key areas:

  • Applications
    • Current and planned
  • Reports
  • Clinical processes
    • Impacted workflows
  • IT processes
  • Infrastructure
  • Organization's ability to accept change
  • Security (technology and processes)

The Meaningful Use Roadmap will lay out the tactical steps required through 2010 to enable your healthcare organization to not only achieve Meaningful Use, but become more clinically proficient and cost efficient.

Additionally, HMG wants our clients to realize all the benefits an Electronic Health Record (EHR) can bring (instead of just attainment of federal guidelines and short-term captial).  Our clients will attest to HMG's ability to have a positive impact on clinical objectives and improvements in areas like patient safety and  outcomes measurement.

HMG has already conducted several assessments with community-based and large university healthcare organizations and provided them with their "roadmap" for 2010.  If you are interested in learning more about how the recent Meaningful Use requirements impact your healthcare oganization, please contact us at 678-249-5146 or bkitts@huntzingergroup.com.

Call us by February 28, 2010, and HMG will spend up to half a day evaluating your Meaningful Use needs at no charge to you.  Just call 678-249-5146 (or e-mail us at bkitts@huntzingergroup.com) and ask for a FREE INITIAL EVALUATION, and one of the principals of our firm will be happy to work directly with you.

For general information about The Huntzinger Management Group and our services, we invite you to visit http://www.huntzingergroup.com/ .