Dive Brief:
- Almost 75% of Rhode Island physicians haven't signed up to send or receive data through the state's HIE CurrentCare. Fourteen percent of those who have signed up have never used it, according to a 2014 state Health Information Technology (HIT) survey.
- The exchange initially received over $25 million in federal funding, followed by millions in state funds.
- Low use has been attributed to physicians not having a computer they use for an EHR or not having one that is CurrentCare compatible. Although enrollment topped 400,000 patients last fall, the state HIT survey showed that less than two out of ten physicians used CurrentCare in 2014.
Dive Insight:
"The promise of EHRs has not been fulfilled as promised," said Steven DeToy, Rhode Island Medical Society Government Relations Director. "It will make docs lives easier—eventually. But, so far, it's only made insurance companies and EHR companies happy."
The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing last week to discuss how the federal government can improve the use of EHRs through legislation or administrative action. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (Dem.RI), a member of the committee, invited Meryl Moss, COO of Coastal Medical (an ACO with 120,000 patients across the state) in Providence, Rhode Island to testify.