Financial Incentives, Data Exchange Drive EHR-HIT Adoption
62 percent of physicians who adopted health IT tools cited financial incentives and penalties as being influential.
- A data brief released by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) revealed that the use of financial incentives is one of the key reasons that many healthcare facilities adopt EHR and other health IT tools.
According to the brief, 62 percent of physicians who adopted health IT tools cited financial incentives and penalties as being influential in their decision. In 2013, 34 percent of physicians that had not yet adopted health IT technologies would be applying or had already applied.
Since Congress began supporting the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHR technology in 2009 through financial incentives via the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, physicians have been more rapidly adopting the use of these health IT tools.
The data also states that six in ten physicians who reported they would not adopt an EHR indicated a lack of resources as the reason. More than half of these physicians specifically cited a lack of financial resources as their reason for not adopting an EHR.
“Comparing drivers for EHR adoption among physicians who had not adopted to physicians who adopted at different adoption policy stages shows the important role that financial incentives has played among EHR adopters post-HITECH and could play among those who have yet to adopt an EHR,” the data brief states. “There was a clear difference in the influence of financial incentives and payments among physicians who adopted prior to HITECH passage and after.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website states under the Medicaid EHR Incentive payments for eligible professionals are higher with earnings up to $63,750 over 6 years. Though some hospitals struggle with the expenses necessary to make the best impact with their health It technologies, according to a previously published article in JAMA, financial incentives have been shown to help improve small practices.
The data brief results show the importance of financial incentive programs for EHR and health IT adoption. The data also revealed the ability for physicians to easily share electronic clinical information with other doctors to be a motivator for adoption of EHR and health IT.
“This was the leading reason for physicians who adopted before HITECH, and 36% of physicians who adopted after HITECH passage,” the authors explain.
Four out of ten physicians not currently EHR also cited the ability to share information easily with other providers would be an influence on their decision.
Reports predict that use of EHRs could save the healthcare population $78 billion within the next five years and a majority of healthcare providers consider the adoption of EHR and other medical sharing technology to be critical going forward.
