CSC Survey Shows Hospitals Challenged by Incentive Requirements

A survey of U.S. hospital executives produced by CSC found meeting meaningful use requirements was a focus for hospitals even before the final rules to establish an incentive program for electronic health records were put forth by Health and Human Services.

“Health Reform: Priorities and Challenges for Hospital Executives,” was conducted over the last two months and found that “90 percent of participating hospital executives report that achieving meaningful use of an inpatient EHR is one of their top two priorities, and 67 percent say it is their highest priority.”

The terms of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) state that hospitals are able to seek incentive payments from Medicare and Medicaid starting in October 2010 for the successful development and usage of EHRs. The report states that “a typical 275-bed hospital would be eligible for approximately $6 million. Hospitals that do not meet federal guidelines by 2015 face reductions in Medicare reimbursement.”

According to CSC, “the survey reveals that work to achieve meaningful use is well underway: 67 percent of hospital executives have already implemented or are in the process of implementing new capabilities in order to meet the federal requirements, and 51 percent are targeting fiscal year 2011 to qualify for meaningful use. Roughly one-third (34 percent) are looking at fiscal year 2012.”

Posted by John Adams on Friday, July 23rd, 2010. Filed under Healthcare IT, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry