Road to 'meaningful use' won't be easy, HIMSS Analytics says

It should be relatively easy for hospitals and clinics to meet some basic levels of EMR functionality such as laboratory, radiology and pharmacy information system--Stage 1 of the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model--but the road to "meaningful use" of health IT will get progressively more difficult as providers seek federal subsidies for health IT. 

According to a new report from HIMSS Analytics, even getting to Stage 3 on the seven-stage scale will be a challenge for the majority of U.S. hospitals. Stage 3 includes clinical decision support, one of the requirements of meaningful use in the most recent draft HHS has issued. The government will publish a formal proposal by the end of 2009 and finalize the rules next spring.

As the requirements ramp up in 2013, it's likely hospitals will struggle even more, HIMSS Analytics says, since they will have to achieve full computerized physician order entry. (Physician practices will have to have 100 percent CPOE to meet the 2011 requirements, as currently proposed.) Today, just 5 percent of hospitals require their medical staffs to use CPOE, the report says.

For more information about the tough road ahead:
- have a look at this Government Health IT story
- download the HIMSS Analytics report (.pdf)

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