Looks like the Department of Health and Human Services is lowering the bar after shooting themselves in the foot by setting unrealistic expectations for doctors to go digital. In HHS says looser rules for health records will spur job creation, the government will push back the standards that need to be demonstrated by doctors who implement meaningful use of electronic medical records to 2014. This is because current deadlines are to fast for doctors to implement the much needed recordkeeping technology. The article also said that the government would relax some regulations, but it did not name which ones, aside from the deadline. Very clever, if you ask me.
But it also seems to me that they will have almost definitely need to make it easier, that is if they want smaller groups and solo doctors to get on the bandwagon. (Remember that there are a lot more of us small docs in private practice in America than in large hospital systems — WE are the 99%.) Otherwise, only a few large health systems will be able to pull off jumping through all the hoops.
Dr. West is an endocrinologist in private practice in Washington, DC. He completed fellowship training in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and opened The Washington Endocrine Clinic, PLLC, as a solo practice in 2009. He can be reached at doctorwestindc@gmail.com. He blogs at HappyEMRDoctor.com and EHROutlook.com.
Another theory – many small physician practices will depend on their EHR vendor to get them through the process.
JW, that’s gonna be a major fail if it’s anything like our first failed EMR vendor that we had to fire.