Eight in 10 hospital CIOs surveyed said they are concerned or very concerned that they will not be able to demonstrate "meaningful use" of electronic health records before the federal deadline in 2015, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers titled Ready or not: On the road to meaningful use of EHRs and health IT.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocated billions of dollars in 2009 to help hospitals purchase equipment to computerize patient records. The deadline is five years off, but even state-of-the-art hospitals are struggling to meet meaningful use requirements, according to the survey of 120 hospital CIOs.
The survey found that only half of CIOs surveyed say they expect to meet the first set of requirements in 2011. According to the report, the biggest obstacles to meaningful use for hospitals are lack of clarity on guidelines for system certification, shortage of skilled IT staff and existing infrastructure capabilities.
The survey found that health systems that involve patients, physicians and other team members in EHR planning are more confident about meeting requirements. In order to improve their organizations' successes with EHR, 63 percent of CIOs said they are already working with physicians around meaningful use issues or plan to do so within the next six months.
Read the full PricewaterhouseCoopers report on meaningful use.
Read more Becker's coverage of meaningful use requirements.
Hospitals' Physicians Say Federal Healthcare IT Criteria Set Too High
Getting Ready for Meaningful Use: Positioning Your Facility to Meet the Guidelines
MGMA Says Meaningful Use Criteria Could Dampen Physician Productivity
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocated billions of dollars in 2009 to help hospitals purchase equipment to computerize patient records. The deadline is five years off, but even state-of-the-art hospitals are struggling to meet meaningful use requirements, according to the survey of 120 hospital CIOs.
The survey found that only half of CIOs surveyed say they expect to meet the first set of requirements in 2011. According to the report, the biggest obstacles to meaningful use for hospitals are lack of clarity on guidelines for system certification, shortage of skilled IT staff and existing infrastructure capabilities.
The survey found that health systems that involve patients, physicians and other team members in EHR planning are more confident about meeting requirements. In order to improve their organizations' successes with EHR, 63 percent of CIOs said they are already working with physicians around meaningful use issues or plan to do so within the next six months.
Read the full PricewaterhouseCoopers report on meaningful use.
Read more Becker's coverage of meaningful use requirements.
Hospitals' Physicians Say Federal Healthcare IT Criteria Set Too High
Getting Ready for Meaningful Use: Positioning Your Facility to Meet the Guidelines
MGMA Says Meaningful Use Criteria Could Dampen Physician Productivity