Friday, September 26, 2008
Incentives for Docs to go Digital
Right now, the major beneficiaries are insurers, not physicians.
By Emily Singer
Only about 15 percent of physicians in the United States are using electronic health
records (EHR), a statistic that John
Halamka, chief information officer and dean for technology at Harvard Medical School,
aims to change.
During a panel discussion at Technology Review's EmTech
conference earlier this week, Halamka outlined the major barrier in getting
physicians to adopt these systems: misaligned incentives. While EHRs should
ultimately reduce costs, doctors must spend $40,000 to $50,000 to buy an EHR
system, and they lose 20 percent of their productivity in the first few months.
And, at the end of the day, insurers and payers rather than physicians reap the
rewards, Halamka said. His thoughts echo those of Karen Bell, another panelist
who spoke with Technology Review.
Halamka, who is also chief information officer of the
CareGroup Health System, described how his company took the digital leap: it
mandated that academic affiliates, and eventually other affiliates, use EHRs. To
ease the burden, Caregroup subsidized the cost of the systems and provided a
training team for physicians.
Halamka will outline his prescription for broader adoption
of EHRs in a letter to the incoming president, which will be published in the
next issue of Technology Review.
For Halamka's perspective on Healthcare IT and beyond, check
out his blog, "Life as a Healthcare
CTO."
Massachusetts Institute of Technology