Laboratory News

Physicians Rewarded for Use of Information Technology, Penalized for Non-Use

For the first time, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid  (CMS) is tying higher payments directly to the use of information technology (IT) and not just outcomes.  CMS announced a demonstration project starting this spring at the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) conference in October. The demonstration project will provide "financial incentives" and "a bonus" for practices using electronic medical records (EMRs).  The only way to receive the incentives is to use IT solutions to meet certain clinical guidelines.

In a recent editorial by Nathony Guerra, Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare Informatics, he noted that many physicians "took the cautious approach" to EMRs even after changes to Stark regulations now allow physicians to receive EMR systems cheaply or for free as donations from hospitals.  In addition to getting the infrastructure for free, physicians could get help with implementation from the Doctors Office Quality-Information Technology  (DOQ-IT) initiative, which set up Quality Improvement Organizations in each state to act as consultants in the selection and implementation of EMRs.  Clearly, the ability for physicians to easily obtain and implement an EMR system has been in place for years.

Partners HealthCare System  in Boston has decided that its physicians need an extra "push" to start using EMRs.  The organization let it be known in October that it was requiring all physicians in its network to agree to adopt an EMR by January 2008.  By January 2009, non-compliant physicians would be removed from its network.  Partners is not picking up the EMR tab for its network physicians. 

Health systems across the country will be watching what happens with Partners.  If its strategy doesn't result in physicians fleeing from the Partners health system, it is likely that other health systems will take steps to accelerate physician adoption of EMRs in their own communities.

Laboratories should be aware of this latest push for EMR adoption and regularly review their strategy for responding to physician adoption and use of EMR systems.  The combination of carrot and club to motivate more physicians to take the plunge with EMRs is another sign that IT integration is moving forward.

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