WHEN
In 2004, President Bush issued an executive order requiring fully operational EHR adoption throughout the healthcare industry by 2014. He also established the Office of the National Health Information Technology Coordinator and charged it with developing a “health information technology infrastructure” that “reduces healthcare costs resulting from inefficiency, medical errors, inappropriate care and incomplete information.” In November 2006, the Medicaid Commission completed its second and final set of recommendations to Congress, recommending that EHRs, including compatibility among different healthcare providers, be required for all Medicaid beneficiaries by 2012. Congress will focus on healthcare information technology during its 2007 legislative session.
Today, EHR adoption is slow among healthcare providers in general – one study shows that only eight percent of community health centers are using full electronic medical record systems. A September 2006 National Council quick poll of community behavioral health providers across the country indicates that just under eight percent have implemented the EHR with clinical components fully functioning, while 32 percent have implemented the EHR with billing components in place. Another 11 percent of providers are in the process of installing an EHR. Lack of funding and the complex demands of multiple payer and reporting systems are the biggest barriers to EHR adoption in behavioral and mental health patients.
WHY
EHR adoption is expected to reduce healthcare costs by up to 20 percent, significantly cutting back on the approximately 25 cents of every healthcare dollar that is now spent on record keeping and “administrivia” (according to James Kretz, MA, a senior survey statistician at SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services).
