Dive Brief:
- Just 9% of healthcare providers are fully compliant with ONC’s 2015 EHR certification using products that enable open APIs, according to a new eHealth Initiative survey of 107 health IT leaders.
- Of the remainder, 41% said they are in the process of implementing technology, 13% are evaluating options or in the planning phase, 12% are waiting for guidance from IT vendors, 7% know there are requirements but haven’t begun, 3% are unaware of the new requirements and 15% are not sure.
- When it comes to patients seeking their data, 35% of execs reported seeing a moderate or major jump in requests, 40% reported a minimal increase and 20% saw no change. Nearly three in 10 execs said patients also were seeking to share additional information with providers.
Dive Insight:
The kinds of information patients want to share is wide-ranging—from lab data, imaging results and diabetes monitor readings to other provider reports, food diaries and wearable data.
Asked what concerns them most about technology, healthcare executives named security and patient confidentiality. But they see technology as a boon to healthcare. Of the 107 surveyed, 63% said technology has enhanced quality since 2008 and 55% said it has increased consumer engagement in managing their own health.
Still, there seems to be a disconnect with regulations, IT solutions and implementation, the survey says. About seven in 10 execs said they are concerned about changing federal requirements and what they will cost, and a similar share think new incentives are needed to ease the shift to value-based care. At the same time, only about a third of respondents feel providers clearly understand what clinical information can be shared with other clinicians and payers and fewer than six in 10 understand Meaningful Use and Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) requirements.
Providers have made no secret of their lack of readiness on 2015 certification. In February, the American Medical Association and 55 other groups urged CMS to delay the requirements until at least January 2019 to ensure clinicians can transition smoothly to the new technology.
In the MACRA proposed rule for 2018, the agency relaxed EHR certification requirements for the Advancing Care Information portion, allowing MIPS-eligible clinicians to continue using 2014 Edition EHR certified technology for 2018 ACI calculations. A similar provision was included in the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System for fiscal year 2018. A large reason for this was the lack of availability of 2015 certified products on the market.