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| Leading Healthcare Technology Companies Launch National Physician Education Program | |
| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 02:20:00 PM | |
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"EHR Stimulus Alliance" Includes Allscripts, Cisco, Citrix, Dell, Intel, Intuit, Microsoft Corp., and Nuance; Will Deliver Education Programs Across the U.S. CHICAGO - May 14, 2009 - Allscripts today announced the formation of a coalition of technology innovation leaders who are partnering to educate 500,000 US physicians about opportunities aligned with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The Act details President Obama's plan to improve healthcare quality, safety and efficiency through the secure exchange of electronic health information and the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and associated technologies. By connecting physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, payers, public health organizations and other stakeholders across healthcare, information technologies such as the EHR can improve the management of chronic health conditions that account for about 75 percent of U.S. healthcare costs, and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. healthcare. The EHR Stimulus AllianceTM - which includes Allscripts, Cisco, Citrix, Dell, Intel, Intuit, Microsoft Corp., and Nuance - marks the first nationwide campaign by a broad coalition of healthcare and technology companies to help physicians explore opportunities associated with the ARRA. Alliance members are sponsoring The EHR Stimulus TourTM, a significant education program with hundreds of planned virtual and physical events for physicians in cities across the U.S. "Encouraging every physician to use electronic health records is essential to achieving President Obama's goal of a safer, higher quality healthcare system at a price we can afford," said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts, which is leading the Alliance. "The EHR Stimulus Alliance marks a major step forward in helping more physicians to understand their options for entering the electronic healthcare highway." Surveys indicate that large numbers of physicians, while familiar with the basic tenets, do not know the details of the federal incentive program, including how much money they are eligible to receive, when it will be allocated, how they can qualify, how to meet ARRA's requirements for information exchange and how much an Electronic Health Record really costs. The EHR Stimulus Tour will provide the answers via executive briefings, roundtables, trade show presentations, webcasts, and local meetings bringing physicians together with Alliance experts and medical groups that have already successfully adopted Electronic Health Records. Signed into law on February 17, 2009, the ARRA provides physicians a maximum of between $44,000 and $64,000 in incentives for adopting and demonstrating "meaningful use" of an Electronic Health Record beginning in fiscal 2011. Recent studies have demonstrated that physicians who use a connected Electronic Health Record believe the technology dramatically improves the practice of medicine. One such survey of 2,758 physicians, published in the June 18, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found that physicians who use a fully functional Electronic Health Record reported the system positively affects the quality of their clinical decisions (82 percent), their ability to avoid medication errors (86 percent), their communication with other providers (97 percent) and patients (72 percent), timely access to medical records (97 percent), and the delivery of long-term and preventive care that meets clinical guidelines (82-85 percent). Under the ARRA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will pay the incentives to physicians over five years, beginning in fiscal 2011. Physicians who have not adopted certified Electronic Health Record systems by 2014 will have their Medicare reimbursements reduced by 1 percent beginning in 2015; 2 percent in 2016; and by up to 3 percent in 2017 and thereafter. According to a Congressional Budget Office review of the law, the incentives will drive up to 90 percent of US physicians to adopt Electronic Health Records in the next decade. To purchase Cisco Products visit http://ciscoguard.com |