Healthcare Providers Still Face Challenges With EHR Adoption Requirements

Less than half of providers confident in EHR readiness, according to recent survey

Technology in the healthcare industry is constantly growing and changing, and one of the biggest recent developments is the required adoption of electronic health records, or EHR. The conversion from paper charts to coded digital files has been a massive undertaking for many healthcare providers, and is still proving to be a challenge for many. A recent survey conducted by KPMG and published in Healthcare IT News indicated that only 48% of surveyed providers are "confident" in their organization's readiness to meet Medicare and Medicaid's Stage 1 EHR meaningful use requirements per the HITECH Act of 2009.

Meaningful EHR use, according to the requirements, consist of a variety of factors including 15 mandatory objectives healthcare providers must achieve under the program. These include insuring adequate privacy and security for patients' personal health information; improving quality, safety, efficiency, and reducing health disparities; engaging patients and their families in their care; and improving overall care coordination. Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents are only "somewhat comfortable" in their capacity to achieve these goals.

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