I get to have a lot of conversations with physicians, practice administrators and operations staff. From a high level view it seems like most practices are at a stand still regarding new projects, EMR implementations, EMR conversions, and basically anything else but the status quo. It is almost like practices are frozen like deer in the headlights.
When you take a step back and look at all the factors it is no wonder this situation exists. Here are some themes, quotes, and thoughts that I have heard over the past few months.
- We are not sure how the proposed cut in Medicare reimbursements of 21% is going to affect our revenue.
- Reimbursements from private insurers have slowed down significantly and it is hurting our cash flow.
- We are seeing a significant drop in patients and we believe it is recession related.
- We have no confidence that we will see any money from the stimulus bill. There is no definition of what meaningful use is or what a certified EMR is.
- How can you do anything if you don’t know what the healthcare reform is going to look like or if it is even going to be passed?
- We want to implement a new EMR but our data is locked in our old EMR. There doesn’t seem to be any tools of getting the data out.
When you put it altogether you get a sense of uncertainty. The political, economic and technology environments are covered in uncertainty. Is it any wonder why medical practices are frozen like deer in the headlights? I would love to hear about your practice, your concerns, and steps you are taking to address the uncertainty.
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This is dead on. Physicians are stuck and don’t know where to go.
My offering is going to be an e-Book on EMR selection which if all goes well, I’ll publish on Monday. Hopefully it will help those looking at EMR selection. However, much of the e-Book also includes enough education to be able to make a smart EMR selection decision.
John – I look forward to reading the e-book. There is a lack of resources that clearly explain the EMR selection process.
Unfortunately until the uncertainty that I described gets resolved, I don’t see a big push for EMR implementations. Although I do believe when the uncertainty is cleared, there will be a huge push to implement.