HITECH Report: Healthcare Reform Continues with EHR Adoption
By - The continued advancement of health IT adoption, health information exchange and the use of electronic health information are all important tools to improve the quality of healthcare in the nation. Those topics – and many more – were discussed in the annual HITECH Act report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) that is sent to Congress.
Since the HITECH Act was adopted in 2009, there have been significant increases in certified technology adoption for both providers and hospitals, National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, explained in a statement. Specifically, three-quarters of eligible professionals and nine in 10 eligible hospitals received incentive payments from the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.
The information highlights the recent accomplishments in the adoption and use of health IT while ONC navigates the future direction post-HITECH, DeSalvo said.
“The growing adoption of health IT, the success in digitizing the content of the care experience, puts pressure on the need for that electronic health information to be appropriately shared and used to improve health and care no matter the technology developer, information platforms, location, provider, or other boundaries,” the report explained. “Information sharing across all provider types and among individuals is vital for improving care delivery, along with individual and community health, which means the next steps for ONC is to help realize the power and promise of health IT by ensuring that data is collected, shared and used.”
According to the report, a 2011 physician survey found that the EHR Incentive Programs’ payment or the proposed financial penalties is the top factor having a major influence on the decision to adopt an EHR. Moreover, 71 percent of non-adopters said either proposed financial penalties or payments under the EHR Incentive Programs would be a major influence on their decision to adopt an EHR system.
The report also showed that more physicians were adopting EHR technology. Seventy-eight percent of respondents reported using any type of EHR system, an increase from 18 percent in 2001. Additionally, 48 percent reported having a system that met the criteria for a basic EHR system, up from 11 percent in 2006.
Hospital EHR adoption showed even greater increases. Specifically, hospital adoption of at least a basic EHR system more than quadrupled since 2009, the report stated. Hospitals that possess certified EHR technology also increased by 30 percent between 2011 and 2013, rising from 72 percent to 94 percent.
In terms of “major barriers” to EHR adoption, both adopters and non-adopters cited the same top three reasons, the report showed. According to research from the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), office-based physicians that adopted EHRs and that did not adopt EHRs said that the cost of purchasing a system, loss of productivity and annual maintenance costs were the main barriers.
“Electronic health information is not yet sufficiently standardized to allow seamless interoperability, as it is still inconsistently expressed through technical and medical vocabulary, structure, and format, thereby limiting the potential uses of the information to improve health and care,” the report explained. “Patient electronic health information needs to be available for appropriate use in solving major challenges, such as providing more effective care and informing and accelerating scientific research.”
DeSalvo echoed that sentiment in her written statement, saying that both HHS and ONC are working to continue the progress. However, the information in the report “needs to be built upon through advancing the sharing of health information through better interoperability.”
