Providers don’t really need to know the nuances of certification nor even “meaningful use” they just want to hear what is in it for them and their patients. Providers will rapidly adopt anything that improves patient safety, quality, and improves the providers income and quality of life but it is a hard sell if the goal is “health It”.

Providers aren’t averse to new technology (do you know any without a crack-berry or Iphone) nor are they averse to complex health IT (what small orthopedic office hasn’t considered their own MRI machine) but they are very sensitive to anything that impacts their time with patients or their income and I wouldn’t expect most of them to care about “meaningful use” of health IT.

As one simple example, I can promise you that if CMS or major insurance carriers compensated providers for answering email questions from patients its use would increase dramatically.

When we do EMR implementations at large hospital and healthcare systems (Group Health, Standford, etc) very few providers pay any attention until right before go live despite robust communication and engagement strategies. They also often don’t see the value of health IT unless they have worked with someone else or worked in another facility where it was already live and are very sensitive to how it impacts their workflow. The most powerful way that providers learn is watch one, do one teach one and sharing relevant stories of success is critical in what is essentially an organizational change process vs an IT implementation.

Much of the conversation up until now has revolved around the somewhat arcane “meaningful use” definition and certification and doc’s honestly don’t care. Very little attention has addressed the fundamental question of “measurable outcomes”- “what is in it for me or my patient?” When a provider buys a new piece of equipment they don’t need to know how the FDA approves it, simply that it works and that they can use it to provide more efficient, higher quality, patient centered care.

Frequently in government we look for ways to educate, inform and engage people in “programs” or attempt to use the power of policy to resolve social problems that don’t have a clear business case. In the private sector we look for ways to to “sell” a product or service at the expense of our competitors.

This is a unique opportunity to combine the best of both worlds and collaborate across systems but we need a national communication, education and engagement strategy for both providers and consumers. . Organizations like the American College of Physicians or the National eHealth Collaborative can work side by side with private sector companies who are about to reap billions in new business and government bodies like AHRQ, ONC, etc to help demonstrate to providers that this isn’t something being imposed on them but an amazing opportunity leverage the seed capital that CMS is providing to bring their practice into the 21st century.