Stage 1 Meaningful Use of EHR Â Brings Savings in e-Prescribing, Better Patient Communication
The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions is the health services research division of Deloitte. The Center’s goal is to provide research to keep healthcare stakeholders informed on emerging trends and challenges in the industry. The center has released its latest findings in a new report, Physician Adoption of Health Information Technology: . The report assesses the current use and views of physicians on Stage 1 meaningful use, EHRs, patient engagement tools and mHealth technologies gathered from the Deloitte 2013 survey.  The executive summary notes:
Powerful market forces exerted by health care reform, health plans, and consumers are accelerating awareness and adoption of health information technologies (HIT) in medical practices. Yet widespread adoption and optimal utilization of HIT remain problematic for the majority of U.S. physicians, with implementation and operational integration costs major concerns. HIT in its many forms is the cornerstone of health care system transformation. It is the requisite toolkit whereby clinicians, care teams, and their patients will participate effectively in models of care that reward value over volume and capture data required in public performance reporting.
Key findings from the 2013 Deloitte Survey showed that U.S. physicians believe:
- Meaningful use  holds promise for improved efficiency. In particular, primary care physicians perceive efficiencies through faster and more accurate billing and time savings through e-prescribing.
- Think that major barriers to EHR adoption – costs and ease of operational integration – should be overcome for nonadopters to meet Stage 1 meaningful use requirements. Some remain unconvinced: close to half of non-adopters have no current  plans to introduce an EHR that meets MU criteria.
- They are as a groupl slow to adopt online tools and digital health technologies in direct patient care and/or don’t use mobile health technologies – tablets or smart phones – for clinical purposes.
In stark contrast to what some pundits are saying is a year of the EHR switch and backlash, the Deloitte survey found that among physicians whose practice has an EHR meeting Stage 1 meaningful use requirements, overall satisfaction with the EHR is 63 percent. According to the report, “based on their EHR experience, seven out of 10 physicians whose practice has an EHR meeting Stage 1 meaningful use requirements think that the greatest EHR benefits are faster and more accurate service billing, time savings through e-prescribing, and improved communication and care coordination capabilities.”
Read the complete Deloitte report here.