EMR/EHR Adoption to Continue and to Move into Development and Maintenance
by Richard Stokes
As I mentioned in yesterday’s Tips and Techniques post, I’ve been writing some medical blogs. Since Tony’s doing a much better job of keeping his New Year’s resolution than I am so far, I figured now was a good time for me to post the first one!
EMR/EHR system adoption took great strides in 2011 as healthcare facilities that hadn’t started the process of implementing such a system did so in order to qualify for a chunk of the government incentive money as well as to avoid future penalties for not being electronic.
2012 will continue to see these adoption rates rise as a pot of $19 billion dollars in incentives continues to fuel the market. Some people speculate that as these incentives run out, perhaps as early as the end of 2013, adoption rates are likely taper off. Others (Millennium Research Group) believe that we will continue to see steady growth through 2016 as other driving factors such as peer influence, Medicare mandates, and realized clinical efficiencies are seen and documented.
Healthcare facilities that have EMR/EHR already in place will be looking at 2012 as a time to invest resources in the development, maintenance and continued improvement of the use of their systems. Some of the key initiatives that we’ll see from this are:
- Training and developing staff to better use the new technologies
- Optimizing the ways that the EMR/EHR system operates to deliver higher quality patient care and quicker review of patient data.
- Increase in the use of mobile devices when delivering patient care
- Strategic partnering with industry specific experts to achieve greater success
In short, 2012 will see an increased investment in the healthcare market and will continue to be a driving factor in the recovery of the global economic market.
Network 1 Consulting is a 13-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA. We become – or augment – the IT department for professional services companies: medical practices, law firms and financial services firms. Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value is the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firm. This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly. We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.
