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Agenda |
Workshops |
Exhibitors |
Vendor Opportunities
EHR are expected to reduce administrative overhead and provide accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date medical files, but there are many questions surrounding their implementation. How much will they cost? Who should pay for them? Where do health-care providers go for initial funding? What are the options? Janie Tremlett, the Senior Strategic Advisor of Concordant, will be discussing these issues at the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium’s Health IT Conference in February of 2007. There are many stages and costs associated with Electronic Health Record implementation. "As with many other technologies," Tremlett said, "people often don’t understand the total cost of ownership, forgetting ongoing support costs which are usually two or three times initial implementation costs." Healthcare providers are faced with many decisions about ongoing support fees: Should they lease hardware? Should they buy it? How do they perform system back-up? "Users will [also] need security updates, software patches and hardware upgrades over time," said Roger Paradis, Concordant’s Director of Program Management. Without proper design and support, systems won’t meet needs of physician practices. Electronic record technology demands appropriate infrastructure planning, design and ongoing routine maintenance. "What if a server crashes?" Paradis said. "What will health care providers do if they cannot access medical records?" There could be dire consequences if doctors cannot see medical records. Between product planning, logistics and support, electronic record technology will cost millions of dollars. An electronic record system in Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angles cost $34 million dollars – and it was later scrapped. To defer the high cost of electronic record technology, many healthcare providers are seeking grant monies. Even with their financial help, however, Janie Tremlett believes healthcare providers will struggle to afford the ongoing costs of these implementations. "There are several considerations: On one side, where do we get the initial funding for Electronic Health Records? What are the possible sources? On the other side, how do you ensure that you have accounted for all of your ongoing costs? What are the services, service levels, and change support needed for each implementation? Is there a one-size fits-all implementation, or a catalog of services with different price points?" The implementation is very complex because local communities and states - and perhaps all over the country someday - will be sharing these records. Costs are one reason why so many healthcare providers have trouble changing to EHR. "Everyone seems to be struggling with a sustainable business model," Tremlett said. "We need to examine the economic flow of this health-care system to understand where the funding opportunities lie." Janie Tremlett believes that the key constituents in the healthcare system should share in its financial support. "The government as the single donor is not a viable option," she said. "If it’s a shared system, then everyone should pay." At the February event, she will examine various models. Besides disagreements on who should pay and how much, there are also uniformity issues. One of the major barriers surrounding electronic health records are home-grown records, clinician definitions, and terms. "Once you’ve seen one physician’s practice," said Roger Paradis. "You’ve seen one - and only one - physician’s practice." Paradis said that implementing these solutions is a difficult task. "Integrating multiple vendors’ solutions and multiple clinician data to provide consistent information across communities is not an easy task." Roger said that there are hundreds of companies providing different software for electronic record technology. The demand for EHR is fueled by the need for comprehensive, up-to-date health records. "Take a diabetic patient," said Paradis. "He or she might see twelve doctors. Each doctor probably has a different, individual health record. We will take much better care of this individual patient with the adoption of EHR across this patient’s healthcare continuum. The benefit of a comprehensive list of medications that this patient has been prescribed can’t be overestimated." EHR can save lives because doctors know that they can prescribe medications without adverse effects. Electronic records will not only save lives, they will save money; to curb the high cost of healthcare Wal-Mart, Intel, and Pitney-Bowes have given their employees electronic healthcare records. "It should make the healthcare process simpler, more straightforward, more cost-effective," said Intel Chairman Craig Barrett. The companies hope that Electronic Health Care Records will save money by removing unnecessary paperwork, duplicate tests and medical errors. Barrett said those costs are making it harder for U.S. companies to compete. "Our health care costs are much higher than anywhere else in the world," he said. There are many benefits and barriers to implementing Electronic Health Records. Although one of the major hurdles is financing, other obstacles with be discussed at the conference.
For further information on any of our conferences and events, please contact Jerilyn Heinold, Healthcare Consultant, via e-mail. If you would like information on exhibiting opportunities for this or other events, please contact Arleen Coletti, Director of Member & Exhibiting Services via e-mail or by phone (781)768-2512.
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