MU objectives, physician priorities not always aligned

The federal EHR incentive programs outline objectives for eligible hospitals and professionals to achieve to demonstrate meaningful use of health IT, but those prescribed objectives often don't fall in line with physicians' priorities, according to a study in Annals of Family Medicine.

Researchers surveyed primary care practices, both physician-owned and those affiliated with hospitals and health systems, that achieved patient-centered medical home status and participated in meaningful use to analyze the coordination between proposed objectives and physician activity.

The survey found that while 78 percent of respondents said timely notification of hospital discharges is important, just 49 percent used IT systems to carry out this task. Conversely, the most frequent activity supported by health IT was providing clinical summaries to patients; 77 percent of practices did so. However, just 48 percent of physicians considered this to be an important activity.

Researchers determined the care coordination activities most widely implemented were ones not heavily supported by health IT, such as sending referral requests. Ninety-two percent of respondents said they routinely send referral requests to other clinicians, but just 69 percent routinely use health IT to do so, for example.

"Even among practices having a strong commitment to the medical home model, the use of health IT to support care coordination objectives is not consistent," researchers concluded. "Health IT capabilities are not currently aligned with clinicians' priorities. Many practices will need financial and technical assistance for health IT to enhance care coordination."

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