Health Information Technology
The passage of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” provides the biggest impetus ever for the modernization of Health Information Technology (HIT) in the United States. It provides $17.2 Billion between 2009 and 2015 to health care providers for the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR); that $17.2 Billion is well-over 50% of the total amount provided in the bill for health care modernization.
The federal funding has a time-based incentive to it: health care providers will have to start modernizing their systems with EHR in 2011 in order to qualify for the maximum amount of funds available. With each passing year, the amount available diminishes until 2015 when it ceases altogether. Moreover, the modernization effort has a punitive side to it: starting in 2015, Medicare and Medicaid billings must be in EHR systems; if they are not, the biller will pay a penalty for *each* billing.
For individual physicians, the funding scenario looks like this:
| Year | Funding or Penalty |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $18,000.00 |
| 2012 | $12,000.00 |
| 2013 | $9,000.00 |
| 2014 | $6,000.00 |
| 2015 | $3,000.00 |
| 2016 | 1% Medicaid |
| 2017 | 2% Medicaid |
| 2018 and beyond | 3% Medicaid |
Table 1: Physician Funding Scenario, Full Compliance
Now, imagine that a physician doesn't get started implementing EHR until 2013. What happens? The last two year's of payments are lost:
| Year | Funding or Penalty |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $0.00 |
| 2012 | $0.00 |
| 2013 | $12,000.00 |
| 2014 | $9,000.00 |
| 2015 | $6,000.00 |
| 2016 | 1% Medicaid |
| 2017 | 2% Medicaid |
| 2018 and beyond | 3% Medicaid |
Table 2: Physician Funding Scenario, Partial Compliance
For hospitals the formula is more complicated, but the diminishing payout and increasing penalty schedule is the same.
So, the Federal government has set up a carrots and sticks approach: get modernized with EHR records sooner rather than later when there are more funds available; wait and you lose out on the money available; wait too long you begin paying penalties in 2015. This means quite simply that everyone, health care providers and software vendors alike, is under pressure to get EHR modernization started quickly.
HIT Technology Expertise
Crowell Solutions, Inc. offers expertise in three areas critical to the modernization of Health IT: interoperability, standards, and Electronic Health Records.
Interoperability refers to the ability of information systems to communicate within and between organizations. Developing inter-operable systems requires extensive knowledge of several areas. Facility in working with different application APIs is critically important. Experience is a key element in this because application APIs can be quirky and are seldom well documented. The ability to understand various kinds of data models, and how they relate to business requirements, is another key issue. Finally, understanding the optimal ways to have applications communicate with one another is an issue that has multiple levels: networking, services, and information exchange options, to name but a few. In some, the issues of interoperability are a prime reason why health information systems are not currently modernized, and so consist of the most difficult problems involved. The consults at Crowell solutions have many years' experience developing inter-operable systems that work within the real-world parameters of business.
Standards touch many parts of the overall HIT landscape. Many software companies, and many consulting companies as well, are comfortable only in the narrow space of their proprietary information system. They are not accustomed to working in a standardized environment. But standards are what make interoperability possible in the most general case. And working with standards to develop inter-operable systems requires a different mindset that traditional application development. The consultants at Crowell Solutions have many years experience working in standardized environments and understand how to solve problems using standards-based solutions.
EHR is the biggest goal of the health modernization effort. It offers the area of greatest potential cost savings because once captured electronically, health records become easier to maintain, use, share, and track than paper records. EHR is a step our health information system must take, and the time is now. But EHR involve specific requirements, like HIPPA compliance, that cannot be risked with inexperienced hands. The consultants at Crowell solutions have many years experience in building systems that comply to numerous government security regulations and provide confidence that customer records are safe and secure.
Crowell Solutions provides the following services:
- Conversion from legacy data to modern EHR
- Mapping data from one system to another
- Application integration
- System interoperability
- Application, system, and network security
- Standards compliance verification
A HIT Small-business Partner
Crowell provides an excellent partner for companies who need technical expertise in the ares noted above. In addition, as a small business, Crowell provides an added benefit to any company who also desires to benefit from contracting work to a small business.
