We’d all like to think that regulating electronic health records (EHR) is a good thing for everyone involved, patients and doctors, but it turns out that it’s not that simple.
Dr. Oliver Korshin is an ophthalmologist in Anchorage, Alaska, and after three decades in his small office, he’s seen patients move into Medicare coverage – he’s doing the same himself.
For Korshin and his practice, having patient’s medical records transitioned into an online database just isn’t practical because it will cost too much to install and maintain, according to him, and he’s pretty close to retirement anyway.
Unfortunately for him, the federal government will penalize Korshin for not using EHR starting next year by withholding 1 percent of his payments, and he’ll lose an additional 1.5 percent for failing to enroll in a federal program that requires doctors to digitally keep track of (and report) quality data about how their patients fare under their care.
That’s not all:
And then there’s the new coding system, also set to take effect in the the fall of 2015 — an overhaul of the standard method of classifying diseases and conditions. Medicare and other insurers require the proper use of these codes if doctors want to get paid for the treatments and procedures they perform. A cost study sponsored by the American Medical Association earlier this year estimated that depending on “variable factors such as specialty, vendor and software,” implementing the new coding system alone could cost a small medical practice between $56,639 and $226,105.
Alaska seems to have a specific position in this issue because the majority of doctors have small practices, but some people believe the transition is really worthwhile and could even maintain practices that are close to shutting the doors.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Rebecca Madison, executive director of Alaska eHealth Network, wants to make it as easy as possible for providers to make the switch. Her mission is to sell doctors on the benefits of switching over by showing how electronic records can make their offices more efficient and give them better data on the care they’re providing. The systems can also lower billing costs.
“We work with providers to ensure that they have the best experience they can, going into an electronic health record,” she says, “because it really is changing your entire practice. It’s not easy.”
