Birmingham-based health care
management advisory firm ChangeScape
Inc. has added a physician IT consulting
practice to assist physician practices
to select and implement electronic
health record systems.
“The Health Information
Technology for Economic and Clinical
Health Act and the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act are making it possible
for physician practices to receive up to
75 percent of the cost of purchasing and
implementing EHRs,” ChangeScape
president and CEO Mindy Richards said.
“Changing from a paper-based system to
an electronic system will call for
drastic shifts in the ways physicians
and their staff will practice medicine
and service patients, not to mention
meeting the meaningful use guidelines
they must follow to become eligible for
federal grants.”
ChangeScape had received
recognition throughout Michigan
and the United States for its work in
developing business and technical plans
for a proposed health information
exchange to connect health care
providers in Southwest Michigan in
2008-10. As part of that work,
ChangeScape conducted a survey of
physician practices in July 2009 to
determine EHR use and interest in the
region. The survey found that 122 of 302
(40 percent) of the physician practices
that responded to survey were using
EHRs. Of the 60 percent, or 180, of
physician practices that were not using
EHRs, 13 percent indicated they planned
to in the next 18 months.
“However, many of the practices
that employ EHRs only do so in one area,
such as e-prescribing or medication
management, which may not meet all of
the qualifications of meaningful use,”
Richards said. “Plus, those who do not
implement EHRs by 2015 will be penalized
with decreased Medicare reimbursements.”
ChangeScape uses the meaningful use
guidelines and its work with the State
of Michigan and the Southwest Michigan
Health Information Exchange as
guideposts for customized strategies for
the physician practices. It does not
sell hardware or software but provides
the blueprints for the most appropriate
configuration and works with physicians
and their teams to determine the most
appropriate solution set for their
current and future practice needs.
So
far, 36 physician practices have called
upon ChangeScape for assistance.
“The
decision to employ EHRs is not an ‘if,’
it’s a ‘how soon?’” Richards said.
For more information about ChangeScape,
visit
www.changescapeinc.com.
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