is CCHIT relevant for a Specialty Practice (Getting Started)

I've just posted a new Getting Started resource discussing the relevance of CCHIT for a Specialty Practice.

You can view the interview here.

Mark Anderson raises some interesting points about how (some) EMR Vendors are viewing CCHIT -- in that their Doctors might not be asking for it but they're losing sales if they don't have CCHIT certification. He also noted that most of the sales are going to "the top 15" which are CCHIT certified.

A prolific poster ... you guessed ... Al Borges, MD ... gets another mention as the leader of the Anti-CCHIT movement.

Dr. Borges? (or any other posters) Do you agree with Mark's pragmatic comments about CCHIT today and in the next couple of years?

Sincerely,

Nick

My thanks to Mark Anderson, AC Group for supporting our Getting Started resources for Doctors Researching EMR solutions.  

For more information about the subjects discussed here you can contact Mark Anderson at the details listed below.
See our other Getting Started resources here.

Mark R. Anderson CPHIMS, FHIMSS
CEO and Healthcare IT Futurist 
AC Group, Inc.
118 Lyndsey Drive
Montgomery, TX  77316
(c) 281-413-5572
(f)  832-550-2338
email: mra@acgroup.org
web: www.acgroup.org

In my opinion C_HIT is irrelevant to current practice.

We have all the features a doctors office needs using non Certified EMR as do thousands of other ones using non certified EMRs and providing the same level of standard care to patients.

Especially the ones in solo and small practice will be better off in long run to keep more of their earnings to themselves than misspend money on C_HIT certified ones.

We see EMRs like AC, though non certified- growing by leaps and bounds with no qualms from its users regarding usability and stability of company. Just ask Jon at AC.

As C_HIT requires more and more programming lines to be added to the program, the  EMRs becomes a behemoth which can be still turned, but takes lot more effort with no advantage to doctor or serve the patient any better.

The price of certification will go up just like gas price and then those EMRs become more expensive and with current cuts the doctor will be regretting more getting certified EMR as they are more expensive.

In future C_HIT may not exist at all just like many other non sensical failures and if docs buy those certified ones, it is a hassle to buy less expensive ones later on.

I would like to see studies which says the non EMR certified are losing busines, rather than just relying on word of mouth.

Seems like it's more relevent if you are selling and it might become more relevent if you are buying going forward. It's too early to see what a certified vs. non-certified EMR might bring to your practice. as of today, for someone like myself not much value there...but time will tell.

For a small practice there doesn't appear to be any benefit at this point. Even for larger practices it is questionable, although larger practices seem to give it more credence. I don't believe CCHIT should be a significant factor in a practices decision in choosing one EMR from another. There are much more important factors. All other things being equal, it might be a tiebreaker, but even that is probably giving it more benefit than it deserves. In it's current state, it's a government boondogle and any advantages it may confer are pie in the sky promises. Buying software now soley for benefits that it may or may not confer in the future is a recipe for disaster. Whatever CCHIT certification does, one thing is absolutely does not do is give a practice any higher chance of a successful EMR implementation.

 No it i not, nor does it prove viability or functions as it was intended to do.

No.

>>> Mark Anderson raises some interesting points about how (some) EMR Vendors are viewing CCHIT -- in that their Doctors might not be asking for it but they're losing sales if they don't have CCHIT certification.

This could possibly be found in a small portion of the larger group market, but even then, with decreasing Medicare reimbursements and the high rate of failed implimentations (20-40% in most studies) and of the high rate of uninstallation of CCHIT-certified EHRs (8% in one recent study), the growth of the EHR market will be slow into the far off future at best.

Another issue is the fact that physicians are concerned about patient record privacy concerns as well as are angry at the fact that government is interfering with their practices. (see article on this here) Quote from this article:

-- Leaders at AAPS said that mandating the use of health IT and "quality monitoring" of physicians is similar to regulating the practice of medicine, which Congress "has neither the expertise not the constitutional authority" to do. AAPS officials added that Congress "cannot delegate to government agencies or private organizations authority it does not have." --

Like Hillary's socialized healthcare, the idea of CCHIT will eventually fail. I feel that the HIT of the future will consist of inexpensive, easy to impliment and use EMRs that are able to communicate. Anything that adds cost and complexity or which will slow workflow will not survive.

Just my thoughts...

Al

alborg:

but even then, with decreasing Medicare reimbursements and the high rate of failed implimentations (20-40% in most studies) and of the high rate of uninstallation of CCHIT-certified EHRs (8% in one recent study), the growth of the EHR market will be slow into the far off future at best.

Al, that recent study that was linked to here is very interesting - see the numbers of users who have purchased an EMR vs those actually using them.  Big discrepancy.