Survey: Fewer CIOs think early stimulus funds are coming their way
The percentage of CIOs who expect their organizations to qualify early for stimulus funding for implementing EHRs has dropped by half since August, according to a survey by the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME).
Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) implementation is looming as one of the more difficult objectives to achieve—more than half of responding CIOs identified CPOE as a challenge, and said getting clinical staff to use the systems is their biggest concern, according to the survey by the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based organization.
CIOs from community hospitals now appear to be far less confident than they were when responding to a similar CHIME survey in August. In the recently completed survey, only 5 percent of CHIME member respondents at community hospitals expect to qualify for funding in the first six months of the stimulus funding program, compared with 23 percent three months ago.
Some 42 percent of community hospital CIOs reported that they expect to accelerate plans to implement EHRs, nearly double the 24 percent who responded similarly in the previous survey. In addition, the percentage of community hospital CIOs who believe their organizations are well positioned to qualify for funding dropped to 32 percent, down from 48 percent in the previous survey.
Results of the mid-November survey of some 191 CHIME members illustrated a variety of other changes from the initial August 2010 survey, in which members indicated cautious optimism about their chances for achieving stimulus funding under the HITECH portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
In CHIME’s most recent survey, 15 percent of respondents said that they expect to qualify for stimulus funding in the first six months of fiscal year 2011, which began on Oct. 1. By contrast, 28 percent reported in August that they expected to qualify for funding by April 1, 2011.
“One potential reason for the drop in confidence may be due to the fact that CIOs are getting a clear view of the horizon, as many of their questions are being answered by federal agencies,” said Chuck Christian, FCHIME, director of information systems and CIO at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, Ind. “Many of the clarifications are adding to the complexity of the task at hand.”
In both surveys, only about 10 percent of responding CIOs said they believe their organizations will not qualify for stimulus funds until fiscal years 2013 or 2014.
The vast majority of CIOs—82 percent—report that they still continue to have concerns related to meeting meaningful use objectives and qualifying for stimulus funding. However, the nature of those concerns has shifted dramatically from three months ago.
Overall, 62 percent of respondents said they expect some level of difficulty ahead regarding CPOE implementation. When asked specifically about implementing CPOE, 52 percent of CIOs said their biggest concern is getting clinicians to enter orders into their CPOE system to meet thresholds stipulated by meaningful use objectives.
The survey can be accessed here.
Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) implementation is looming as one of the more difficult objectives to achieve—more than half of responding CIOs identified CPOE as a challenge, and said getting clinical staff to use the systems is their biggest concern, according to the survey by the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based organization.
CIOs from community hospitals now appear to be far less confident than they were when responding to a similar CHIME survey in August. In the recently completed survey, only 5 percent of CHIME member respondents at community hospitals expect to qualify for funding in the first six months of the stimulus funding program, compared with 23 percent three months ago.
Some 42 percent of community hospital CIOs reported that they expect to accelerate plans to implement EHRs, nearly double the 24 percent who responded similarly in the previous survey. In addition, the percentage of community hospital CIOs who believe their organizations are well positioned to qualify for funding dropped to 32 percent, down from 48 percent in the previous survey.
Results of the mid-November survey of some 191 CHIME members illustrated a variety of other changes from the initial August 2010 survey, in which members indicated cautious optimism about their chances for achieving stimulus funding under the HITECH portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
In CHIME’s most recent survey, 15 percent of respondents said that they expect to qualify for stimulus funding in the first six months of fiscal year 2011, which began on Oct. 1. By contrast, 28 percent reported in August that they expected to qualify for funding by April 1, 2011.
“One potential reason for the drop in confidence may be due to the fact that CIOs are getting a clear view of the horizon, as many of their questions are being answered by federal agencies,” said Chuck Christian, FCHIME, director of information systems and CIO at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, Ind. “Many of the clarifications are adding to the complexity of the task at hand.”
In both surveys, only about 10 percent of responding CIOs said they believe their organizations will not qualify for stimulus funds until fiscal years 2013 or 2014.
The vast majority of CIOs—82 percent—report that they still continue to have concerns related to meeting meaningful use objectives and qualifying for stimulus funding. However, the nature of those concerns has shifted dramatically from three months ago.
Overall, 62 percent of respondents said they expect some level of difficulty ahead regarding CPOE implementation. When asked specifically about implementing CPOE, 52 percent of CIOs said their biggest concern is getting clinicians to enter orders into their CPOE system to meet thresholds stipulated by meaningful use objectives.
The survey can be accessed here.