In the next few months, America’s health care providers will be inundated with facts and even myths about the federal government’s economic stimulus plan and its impact on adoption of health information technology. The dual reality that I live, as a practicing optometrist and a CEO of a new EHR software company, tells me that many more details need to unfold before an optometrist will know the financial impact on his or her practice.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that was passed by Congress in February stipulates that nearly $20 billion will be delivered to health care providers as they implement health information technology in their care of the patients. No one yet knows the formula for how the money will be distributed, but there are a few facts that have equally concerning, associated unknowns.
The funds will be delivered to doctors as a result of their “meaningful” use of an EHR system. That is defined as use of an EHR that has integrated e-prescribing, as well as capability to enable improved health care. These are important standards. The problem for optometrists is determining how the health system will accept information about our patients that we deem critical - visual acuity, intraocular pressure, phoria, C/D ratio - some entity will need to address this. In my exploration of the matter, I have found that AOA is making every effort to assure that optometry will be represented in this process.
Also, the funds will not be delivered in the form of a tax credit or check written to a software company to offset the cost of buying an EHR program. The only recipients of funds will be doctors who participate in the care of Medicare or Medicaid patients, as there is already a conduit for doctor payment through those programs. So doctors who are not helping to care for America’s citizens who are covered under such programs are on their own, and they will not be able to apply for funding to offset their EHR cost. I’m ok with that, and I applaud the government for their stance to compel ODs to care for patients with governmental coverage.
It would be impossible to cover all of the topics associated with the health information technology stimulus funds, but the most interesting of all of the components is this: funds will be available for those who implement EHR by 2015, and if you don’t do anything by then, there is nothing in it for you. A maximum benefit of up to $44,000 paid over five years between 2011 and 2016 can be a significant boost to the health care system’s use of EHR as it truly improves the accuracy and completeness of patient care. There’s no push to get EHR today, but there’s really no reason to wait.
