“Physicians and their practices are the backbone of the American healthcare system and since they are also small businesses, they are the backbone of our economy as well,” Barnes said. “The healthcare industry needs to stay focused on economic sustainability by providing fair, positive reimbursement incentives and accelerating depreciation of capital equipment purchases.”

Barnes delivered his remarks before the Health Care Reform Subcommittee of the House Republican Policy Committee, where he participated in a panel discussion with National Health Information Technology Coordinator David J. Brailer, MD; Barth Doroshuk, president and CEO of the Washington ENT Group; and Kepa Zubeldia, MD, president and chief technology officer of the Claredi Corp.

The Health Care Reform Subcommittee is charged with keeping Republican members of Congress up to date on critical healthcare issues. The panel is chaired by Rep. Phil Gingrey, Georgia, and the vice chairman is Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana. Both are physicians.

Barnes joins several industry leaders and organizations that recently have sounded the bell for creating incentives aimed at boosting the uptake of healthcare informationn technology by physicians, particularly those in small medical groups.

New studies released Wednesday showed that physician adoption of electronic medical records systems has been sluggish – with 14.1 percent of all medical group practices using an EHR.

In commenting on the results of the new studies, William Jessee, MD, president and CEO of the Medical Group Management Association, and Mark Leavitt, MD, chief medical officer of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, called for incentives for physicians. Jessee suggested public-private incentives forged with health insurers who tend to benefit from savings derived from the use of IT.

“This is a crucial time to be discussing how information technology is shaping the healthcare industry and its policies, not just for the future, but starting this very day,” Barnes told the panel. “It is important for the government and the public to be aware of the fact that there is technology to assist physicians in obtaining patient information and storing patients’ health records available now, especially as a key component of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts with the EHR industry supporting caregivers in the Gulf Coast in providing care and saving lives.”

Carollton, Ga.-based Greenway Medical Technologies develops and markets electronic medical record systems and practice management software. The company focuses primarily on small physician practices – 3-25 physicians – as its client base.

Zubeldia, the president and CTO of Claredi, a company that provides HIPAA EDI standard transaction testing and certification solutions, also talked about small physician practices.

"We need to make sure the playing field is level and there are no artificial barriers for the smaller players," Zubeldia said. "Most of the innovations in health information comes from small players." Interoperability and standards are key factors, he said, and he commended Brailer for keeping both in the public eye.

“The vast majority of healthcare in this country is delivered in medical offices with a smaller number of physicians,” Barnes said. “This environment will be the essential component in assuring adoption due to the communication these practices have with hospital systems, test laboratories and other medical practices.”
Source: Healthcare IT News  /  Author: Bernie Monegain, Managing Editor