Our rural and community hospitals are finding the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to the HITECH Act. There are several media outlets and blogs reporting on the subject and we thought we would share our finds.
Rural western Missouri hospital is running on a deficit, borrowing money to convert to an EHR system, and hoping their calculation on the federal stimulus money will bring them survival. USA Today reports. Read more on this in iHealthBeat.
The small critical access hospitals are eager to consider EHR systems, but they are not finding needed functionality or availability. In order to qualify for the HITECH incentives, EHR systems must be implemented and proving meaningful use. HealthcareIT News reports.
Large hospitals, small hospitals and giant health care networks face unique issues in adopting EHR systems. Rural community facilities obviously have the location problems but they also are finding challenges in getting the local physicians to change old habits. CNNMoney.com reports.
Louisiana law calls for the state health department to partner with the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition to promote loans for rural health care providers looking to implement EHR technology. iHealthBeat reports.
Will the aggressive timeline to meet objectives for meaningful use of an EHR system discourage small, rural, and community facilities? Industry consultants weigh in. Read their views in iHealthBeat.
The challenges for rural providers and all hospitals as they dive into EMR, relate to money, systems, and most importantly, people. Barbara Kram reports on the rural and critical access hospitals tug of war between technology needs and funding and how they are no strangers to regulations and reforms. Read the full report in DOTmed News.