Are meaningful use incentives worth the hassle?
It’s no secret that hospitals are unlikely to recover much of the money they spend on electronic health record (EHR) implementation through the meaningful use incentive program. But experts say hospitals need to watch out for the long-term costs associated with using EHRs. If technology initiatives are not planned effectively, these expenses may quickly swamp a hospital’s finances and have a much more lasting impact than the up-front money hospitals have to pay to get systems up and running.
Methodist Health System, a Texas group comprised of six hospitals and a network of ambulatory medical offices, has implemented EHRs throughout its system and is currently receiving incentive payments. But Pamela McNutt, the system’s senior vice president and CIO, said these payments only covered a fraction of the up-front implementation costs. When the total cost of ownership of the EHR system is added up, the meaningful use incentives may not actually be all that meaningful for the system’s bottom line.
See on searchhealthit.techtarget.com
For an aggregation of other articles on Hot Topics in Healthcare Law, go to my magazine on Scoop.it – Hot Topics in Healthcare Law and Regulation and my newspaper on Paper.li – Hot Topics in Healthcare Law.
For an aggregation of other articles on improving healthcare, go to my internet magazine Scoop.it! Changing Health for the Better.
Health News Florida
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
Physicians Practice
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
Joseph Rugg's Health Law Blog 