It’s CCHIT’s “birthday” – and, like any anniversary, it’s always a good moment to look back and reflect on our experiences and accomplishments. The organization itself is 4 years old. And our 3-year Federal contract, awarded October 1, 2005, is just about complete (but we’ve already learned we’re getting an extension, so some government support will continue for the near future).
But nostalgia isn’t the main sentiment we’re feeling today. CCHIT was formally required at the end of its 3 year Federal contract to “look back” and assess the impact of certification on health IT adoption. We just got the results, and what we found really surprised us – in a positive way.
Bottom line: we found more than $700 million worth of incentive programs for EHR adoption, all launched since we started certifying ambulatory EHRs in 2006. And that’s not even counting the ePrescribing bonus payments which will begin in 2009.
We found some 50 hospitals helping physicians financially with EHR acquisition under the exemption to the Stark and Anti-kickback law. We found 40 incentive programs from Federal, State and local governments and from the private sector. These include pay-for-performance bonuses, grants, loans, even discounts on liability insurance – all for using a CCHIT Certified EHR.
Our staff had to work pretty hard to research and collate this data, digging through reports, news, even cold-calling hospitals, agencies, or vendors. That points out a real need: doctors must have an easy way to find out what EHR adoption incentive and assistance programs are offered in their area. We’ve created two resources to try to fulfill this need. First, we have an online database of these incentive programs. By selecting your state, you can automatically filter the database to list programs that may apply to you, including the national programs as well as state, local, or hospital-based programs. Or just download the whole report, called the CCHIT Incentive Index.
We’d like feedback on how these tools work for you. We’ll do our best to keep it updated, but we could use help with that. So please feel free to comment below, let us know if you are aware of programs we didn’t list, or tell us if you’d like to partner with us on this project another way.
Recently, we’ve seen some papers bemoaning the slow rate of health IT adoption. They raise some good issues, and I agree we still have a long journey ahead. But folks, it looks to me like the payers and purchasers of health care have put $700 million of fuel in our “adoption tank” (or maybe a better metaphor would be “charge” in our “adoption batteries”). Add to that the energy I sense every time groups of our 200 volunteers gather to collaboratively accomplish the work of certification development. So on our fourth birthday, I want to thank everyone who’s been contributing to our success. Now let’s press the accelerator down harder, using all that fuel, charge, and energy to drive us right into the future of healthcare.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
$700 M for CCHIT approved products would appear to work against the adoption the Ambulatory Specialty Specific EMR’s such as Ophthalmology/Optometry. The Commision has not published Certification specs as yet.
1: Is there funding available in this instance?
2: When does the Commision plan to publish the specs for Eyecare?
3: Do you have any recommendations on what we can do in the interim, so the adoption in the eyecare community is ‘encouraged’ and can aprticipate in the funding available now?
Thanks for taking the time to respond to these questions.
Ian (:>)
We recognize the desire among healthcare providers and EHR vendors for the Certification Commission to go beyond its original scope of work to extend its certification model to additional specialized areas of professional practice, care settings, and populations. In fact, two years ago the Commission conducted an open public comment process to gather information and prioritize a first round of expansion based on the potential for success of any new program given the benefit it would provide, the readiness for certification and the magnitude of the effort. The Commission took into consideration its own limited funding and resources for developing these expansion areas, so only a small number of areas were addressed in the first round of expansion.
This resulted in the July 2008 launch of certification programs for child health, cardiovascular medicine and emergency department EHRs. Currently development or further research is under way for behavioral health and long term care EHRs, and personal health records (PHRs). The Commission also recently decided to extend certification to standalone e-prescribing products to enable physicians to take advantage of the new Medicare bonuses beginning in 2009.
That leaves open the question of how the Commission will consider new areas for 2010 and beyond. It is likely that, as the Commission considers it strategic plan for future development, it will once more go to the healthcare community to collect information, through its public comment process, about what future certification programs would improve health IT adoption while having a strong impact on the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care. That market research would include such questions as:
• What is the magnitude of the certification program’s potential effect? Number of patients? Number of physicians or facilities? Number of vendors currently offering products, including those who may offer it as an added module to a primary care ambulatory or inpatient EHR?
• What is the current adoption rate? What percentage of providers already uses these products? Are they used in an ambulatory or inpatient setting or both?
• What is the degree of market readiness for certification? Are there specialty professional societies with technical committees with whom the Commission could work? Are there consensus-based standards available upon which to base criteria and test scripts? Are these standards currently in use by a significant number of vendors developing products?
• What sources of funding are available for new development? Would the program be sustainable?
Those interested in the Commission’s progress in this area will find all deliberations and opportunities for public comment at http://www.cchit.org. A good way to stay up-to-date on all new activities is to sign up on that site for CCHIT eNews, our electronic newsletter. All information about emerging incentive programs will be published periodically in the CCHIT Incentive Index™ on this site.
Sue Reber, Marketing Director, CCHIT
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