Understanding Stage 1 Meaningful Use Requirements Biggest Hurdle

KPMG released this week the results from a poll they conducted last month on level of readiness of hospitals and health systems to meet Stage 1 Meaningful Use requirements. The results of this poll showed that a majority of hospitals and health systems say they are well along in completing EHR system adoption though many expressed various levels of doubt about the ability to meet existing requirements.

In response to questions of confidence level of readiness to meet Stage 1 meaningful use requirements, 48% percent of the poll respondents indicated they were confident while 39% said they were somewhat confident, 3% percent said they were not confident at all, and 10% said they didn’t know what their level of readiness was. The survey also found a big bright spot: 71% of the respondents said they are more than 50 percent of the way to completing EHR system adoption.

The poll focused on hurdles too. When it comes to challenges these organization have had in meeting Stage 1 meaningful use requirements 25% responded that simply understanding the requirements involved in demonstrating meaningful use was their greatest  followed by training and change management efforts (20%); capturing relevant data electronically as part of clinical workflows (18%); lack of a dedicated meaningful use team (12%) and not having the appropriate certified technology (6%).

Brad Benton, partner and national account leader for KPMG Healthcare said “The results show that organizations are moving forward but it’s interesting that many are not more confident with their level of readiness, especially when considering anticipated Stage 2 requirements” and that “Achievement of meaningful use is a major organization-wide transformational initiative, and associated challenges must be effectively managed from the beginning or organizations may face serious project risk issues down the line.”

Mike Beaty, principal and KPMG Healthcare IT enablement leader said of the poll results that “Adding to the challenge is the continuing development of the regulations themselves as each successor stage really builds on its predecessor, so it’s imperative that organizations really embrace and institutionalize the concept that achieving compliance is not just a technology focused project. Real success will be defined by highly-effective adoption of redesigned clinical workflows and care delivery processes.”

KPMG conducted the poll as part of their webcast on Stage 1 and Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements. More than 250 hospital and health system administrators participated in the webcast poll. You can find a replay of the webcast here.