Market research firm Kalorama Information is sticking with its earlier forecast, issued pre-passage of the federal stimulus, that vendors and health systems will have a greater bearing on whether physicians adopt EMRs than the federal government will. "There's a lot of focus right now on the HITECH incentives, but we think vendors and health systems who piggyback off these incentives are even more important," Kalorama Publisher Bruce Carlson says, according to Healthcare IT News.
Because practices can't get the Medicare and Medicaid bonuses until they obtain, install and demonstrate "meaningful use" of EMRs, Kalorama says there need to be "parallel" incentives from the health systems and hospitals with which physicians affiliate. The report refers to the Stark exemption that allows hospitals to contribute as much as 85 percent of the cost of EMR software for affiliated physicians, and specifically mentions a massive program from North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in the New York City area.
For more information:
- see this Healthcare IT News story
- read the report abstract