In hindsight, Wasser also learned some valuable lessons related to managing the EHR vendor you choose for implementation. For example, it didn’t occur to her to ask for specifically defined titles of vendor employees, but now she knows that she didn’t pay for a project manager, and she’s been told that the project coordinator included in her contract “does not manage.” Asking the vendor upfront for a very detailed timeline with specific milestones is also a good idea, she says
Thomas D. Geppert, MD, and his group of 10 Dallas-based rheumatologists had expected to begin the 90-day reporting period for meaningful use on a similar schedule but instead decided to delay participation until next year.
“From a financial point of view…we would do better to take a year of writing the e-prescriptions and then start the [EHR Incentive Program] next year,” says Dr. Geppert. You can’t get federal money for doing meaningful use and electronic prescriptions in the same year, he adds—it’s one or the other. Dr. Geppert’s practice will also need to upgrade to a new software version that is certified for meaningful use, which will take some time and training. He acknowledges that, “once you get the bugs worked out, it’s probably a good thing,” but his practice has been reluctant to upgrade since it doesn’t need to at the moment.
Dr. Geppert says his practice has moved the projected start date for the first reporting period of EHR to sometime in January 2012. “We could probably rush it and get it done but I think this gives us a little more time. I think it just worked out better for our group.”
Many providers have decided to maximize incentives received through the CMS program by submitting for the e-prescribing bonus payments in 2011, and then beginning the Meaningful Use program in 2012 when the eRx incentive payments expire. Providers are eligible for the same total bonus regardless of whether they start Meaningful Use in 2011 or 2012, so there is no financial penalty for delaying attestation until next year.
Wasser watches and reads online tutorials to learn more about the cloud system her office will eventually adopt while she waits for the vendor to contact her for the next step. But it’s like learning in a vacuum since she does not yet have access to the real system, she says. “It’s out there and they’re working on it. They are getting it all in shape for me to use. And then I know there will be a whole set of steps to set it up to function the way we want it to function, which is great,” she says. “It’s just taking so doggone long.”