Many hospitals are unprepared to meet the federal government's recently released criteria for demonstrating "meaningful use" of electronic health records, Computer Sciences Corp. reported in a recent survey, Health Data Management reports.
Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs will qualify for incentive payments through Medicaid and Medicare.
Survey Findings
For the report, CSC surveyed 58 hospitals of various sizes. The investigators found that two-thirds of surveyed hospitals have identified gaps that could prevent them from meeting the meaningful use requirements (Goedert, Health Data Management, 1/4).
The survey also noted that one-quarter of facilities have met at least 70% of the "readiness criteria" for meaningful use. CSC grouped the 50 readiness criteria into five categories for:
- Adoption of standards;
- Privacy and security protection;
- Quality management and reporting;
- Use of a certified EHR product; and
- Use of capabilities required for meaningful use (McGee, "Healthcare Blogs," InformationWeek, 1/4).
The survey also includes several detailed findings on various topics, such as:
- CPOE: 70% of surveyed hospitals can support computerized physician order entry systems, but only 8% of respondents have CPOE throughout their facility and use the systems for at least 75% of orders.
- Privacy and security: 40% of surveyed hospitals reported full awareness of the federal economic stimulus package's new penalties for health data breaches. About 98% of respondents have a policy in place to limit data disclosure, while 52% use encryption to secure their information.
- Quality reporting: 89% of surveyed hospitals report on core quality measures, but only about half of respondents collect most of the required data from their EHR systems.
- Software: 54% of surveyed hospitals have the latest version of their EHR software. CSC investigators said this could mean that the remaining hospitals will need to update their systems (Health Data Management, 1/4).