by Michelle Schneider
My number one goal for 2010 is to become an expert on Meaningful Use. In keeping with this goal, I have immersed myself in the masses of information about the proposed ruling for Meaningful Use which was voted on in late December. Needless to say, I’m like a deer in the headlights! The more I learn, the more overwhelmed I feel. Is it possible for hospitals to meet these requirements in such a short time? So far, it’s similar to a Joint Commission regulatory roll out where there is so much room for interpretation and so little direction that it will be difficult for hospital groups to agree on and develop precise processes in the allotted time.
The bigger problem seems to be that the ruling will not be final until late spring, 2010. To qualify for the bonus bucks, the hospital must meet the requirements for 90 consecutive days in fiscal year 2010 which ends on September 30, 2010. If you’re doing the math along with me here, that means that all of the processes must be in place and active by the beginning of July 2010. If the ruling is final in late spring and the processes must be in place by July, it would be quite a stretch for any health care IT vendor to enhance its product, test the changes for quality control, roll it out to customers and move it live to meet these requirements for this fiscal year. If it can’t be done with your current system, look to 2011 as your first year for reimbursement. The good news is you still have the potential to earn the same amount of bonus bucks if you start in 2011. The money will just start coming in a little later.
I have worked with the MEDITECH HIS for almost 20 years. This includes the $T, MAGIC, Client/Server and now 6.X platforms. Any of these platforms would serve me well in taking on this new challenge. The MAGIC platform shines in that it’s pliable. We can evaluate user responses in all applications and trigger screens and reports to pop out of nowhere. This makes it a good choice to quickly respond to changes in the ruling. The Client/Server platform offers a more palatable computerized physician order entry (CPOE) process than its MAGIC counterpart and it relies more heavily on point and click, improving the physician experience. When we consider the implications of the ruling and the ability to react quickly to changes, there is less room for creativity. However, with physicians on board and the fundamental requirements in place, success is within reach. While the 6.x platform may be closer to meeting the Meaningful Use requirements, there is much less room for user modification to respond quickly when regulations are amended. Also, MEDITECH’s website says they were expecting to have ten sites live by the end of 2009. With the hundreds of MEDITECH sites out there and their suggested 9-11 month 6.x migration time line, waiting for 6.x to implement the meaningful use requirements just may not be realistic. Once you’ve upgraded to the latest MAGIC or C/S version, you may be quite pleased to find that you’ve got all the tools in place to achieve these goals. Perhaps we’re not so powerless after all.
How do you think your site will handle these challenges?
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