The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued new rules regarding incentive payments for doctors and hospitals that choose to implement electronic medical records. The new rules are intended to broaden the scope of acceptable uses of EMR which would qualify doctors and hospitals to receive incentive payments.
I think that broadening the scope of acceptable uses for EMR will create a situation in which more hospitals will seek to implement this technology in order to receive the financial benefits of its use. The problems may arise when the number of acceptable uses for EMR becomes too broad and people start to take advantage of the system.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, of the 800,000 physicians practicing in the country only 6.3% had fully operational EMR systems. Increased utilization of EMR means that providers of these systems should see a great increase in profits if they can provide the proper solutions for their customers.
Companies switching to EMR must also be mindful to have disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place in the event that the systems break down at some point. Information security will also be a pivotal point of focus because the EMR systems put in place must ensure that the hospitals do not violate The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
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