Now that 2014 is almost over, it is imperative that medical offices switch to electronic health records. If a medical office isn’t fully switched over to electronic health records by the start of 2015, the office will lose 1% of its Medicare reimbursements and will continue to lose these reimbursements by 1% every year until the office switches to electronic health records. Philadelphia medical offices trust Resource Data Management for all of their document scanning needs. Here are a few of our favorite facts about electronic health records.
- Fifty-five percent of physicians had adopted electronic health records by 2011.
- Ninety-one percent of physicians would be interested in mobile electronic health records.
- When surveyed in 2012, 60% of physicians said that they think better patient care outweighs the costs of having an electronic health records system in place.
- Most physicians see about 50 to 99 patients a week. (Think of how much time they will save after they all convert to electronic health records!)
- In 2011 or 2012, bonuses were given to more than 55,000 physicians for meaningful use of electronic health records.
- The federal government estimated that it will pay around $20 billion in incentives before the program shifts to penalties in 2015.
- Approximately 75% of electronic health records adopters say that their new electronic health records system ended up enhancing patient care.
- Some doctors cite a lack of incentives, privacy concerns and challenges in selecting a vendor as the reasons they have not yet adopted electronic health records.
- Almost 50% of physicians say they are comfortable with their office’s or hospital’s budget for electronic health records.
- When physicians use paper health records, they can only spend about 30 to 40 hours directly caring for patients because of the heavy paperwork and other administrative duties they have to take care of.
- When paper records are used, the health care industry consumes tons of paper every year, which also causes a great deal of environmental harm.
- In 2011, the northeast part of the United States led the nation in Meaningful Use Attestations at 31%.
- Family practice was the leading specialty that participated in the Medicare Meaningful Use.
Are you interested in learning more about electronic health records in Philadelphia? Call Resource Data Management at 215-953-5175 or you can contact us for a Free Estimate.