HIMSS Survey: Meaningful use to spur health IT spending in 2010
| Slideshow | 2010 HIMSS Leadership Survey: Healthcare CIO Key Trends Index |
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society |
Singed on Feb. 17, 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) promised financial incentives to providers and hospitals for the meaningful use of certified health IT products. Although criteria for meaningful use won’t be established until later this year, 59 percent of the 398 respondents to this year’s survey said that they plan to make additional investments to position themselves to quality for the incentives.
Driven by meaningful use incentives and a rebounding economy, 72 percent of the respondents said they expect their IT operating budgets to increase, bringing that response back to the levels of two years ago. Last year, only 55 percent of respondents expected an increase in their budgets.
Nearly half (49 percent) who said their budgets would increase this year reported that meaningful use would be a “driver,” according to HIMSS. Another 45 percent reported the increase would be due to an overall growth in the number of systems and technologies at their organization.
Asked to identify their single IT priority during the next two years, 42 percent of respondents identified meeting meaningful use criteria. Most likely will be doing so by implementing clinical systems when asked to identify their organization’s priority clinical IT focus, 35 percent said it would be ensuring their organization has a fully functional EMR in place and 27 percent said it would focus on installing a computerized provider order entry system, the society found.
“Many healthcare executives are paying attention to the improving financial picture, evaluating their systems and starting to make investments,” said Barry P. Chaiken, MD, HIMSS board chair. “A year ago, spending was down and hospitals were feeling pressure, but the stabilizing of the economy ant the ARRA meaningful use provision has provided an incentive for making health IT investments.”
The respondents referred to meaningful use in other answers in the survey. For instance, 38 percent said government issues were the business issue they felt would have the biggest healthcare in the next two years, whereas last year, only 6 percent thought that was the case, according to HIMSS. This year’s response reflects compliance with new regulations regarding meaningful use, as well as coding upgrades and claim processes impacted by ICD-10 and the updated version of HIPAA (5010).
Financial considerations, such as demand for capital and finding new revenue resources, was identified as the top business issue last year, chosen by 54 percent of respondents. This year, 23 percent identified it as the premier business issue.
Overall, 66 percent expected to increase the number of IT staff, which is consistent with 2008 data, after dipping to less than half a year ago.
However, security concerns have remained consistent. Third-four percent said an internal breach of security was their top security concern, and 23 percent said their organization had a security breach in the past year. Thirty percent said their major security concern was compliance with HIPAA security regulations and Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) security audits.
According to the survey, providers continue to make progress on EMR adoption. Nearly half (48 percent) said they have a fully operational EMR in at least one facility, compared to 41 percent last year. Twenty-two percent of providers said they have a fully operational EMR through their entire organization, up from 17 percent last year. Also, 32 percent have begun to install an EMR in at least one facility.
The self-administered web-based leadership survey was by 398 participants between Dec. 14, 2009 and Jan. 29, 2010. Those surveyed represent nearly 270 separate healthcare organizations and nearly 700 hospitals in the U.S. The average bed size of the hospitals was 235 and the median bed size is 128. Eighty-five percent of respondents said they are senior IT executives at their organizations, and 66 percent are corporate CIOs.