Stark!
While the impact of the Stark Law may not touch individual providers directly it could potentially have a tremendous effect on EMR adoption across the county.
A recent Government Health IT article, “Picking up the Check for EMRs” outlines the different perspective of the hospital, physician practice and EMR vendors.
Hospital Perspective. There is skepticism among hospitals that offering EMR programs to physician practices would accomplish the desired goal and while some hospitals are looking at implementing this type of program, for many it is not even a consideration.
Concerns surrounding the need to offer multiple EMR options to practices in order to meet differing needs and the financial impact on the hospital for funding are often noted barriers.
Physician Practice Perspective. Physicians are reluctant to take hospital incentives which may compromise their independence. There are also some concerns about patient data security and how to deal with situations where a physician practices at multiple hospitals using different applications.
EMR Vendor Perspective. While vendors, not surprisingly, like the idea of funding support there is concern that it would benefit the larger EMR vendors far more than the mid-to-small sized ones.
Essentially, it appears that business or operational drivers, not the Stark Law, are moving “connected healthcare” forward at this point in time.
While the impact of the Stark Law may not touch individual providers directly it could potentially have a tremendous effect on EMR adoption across the county.
A recent Government Health IT article, “Picking up the Check for EMRs” outlines the different perspective of the hospital, physician practice and EMR vendors.
Hospital Perspective. There is skepticism among hospitals that offering EMR programs to physician practices would accomplish the desired goal and while some hospitals are looking at implementing this type of program, for many it is not even a consideration.
Concerns surrounding the need to offer multiple EMR options to practices in order to meet differing needs and the financial impact on the hospital for funding are often noted barriers.
Physician Practice Perspective. Physicians are reluctant to take hospital incentives which may compromise their independence. There are also some concerns about patient data security and how to deal with situations where a physician practices at multiple hospitals using different applications.
EMR Vendor Perspective. While vendors, not surprisingly, like the idea of funding support there is concern that it would benefit the larger EMR vendors far more than the mid-to-small sized ones.
Essentially, it appears that business or operational drivers, not the Stark Law, are moving “connected healthcare” forward at this point in time.
Stark!
