Don't Rush to Buy an EHR System Just Yet!
Under the newly enacted Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Development Act (“HITECH Act”), which can be found under Title XIII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (pdf), providers are eligible to receive up to $44,000.00 in financial incentives for implementing an electronic health records system (“EHR” system) as early as 2011.
However, only providers using nationally certified EHR systems will be eligible for these financial incentives. As of today’s date, there are no nationally certified EHR systems, and no certification criteria has been named. Further, the HITECH Act only mandates that an initial set of standards for certification criteria be adopted by December 31, 2009. As such, it could be months before providers can purchase a nationally certified EHR system.
Nevertheless, providers should begin conducting their search for an EHR system as soon as possible. Today, there are a variety of EHR systems on the market, many of which incorporate practice management tools such as patient schedulers, accounting reports and electronic prescription submission into the software package. Demonstrations by sales representatives, as well as individual software testing, can take up to a few hours each time, so the sooner that providers begin researching and testing these EHR systems, the easier it will be to make a decision when the time to purchase an EHR system comes.
