Giants of technology - such as IBM, Dell, Google, Microsoft and Misys Financial Solutions - are racing for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, materializing in the billions of dollars of federal stimulus money assigned to marrying IT with healthcare.
These multi-billion dollar corporations are expending huge amounts of money and time on massive research and development, marketing and lobbying. Yet, in the midst of all these giants, a group of physicians has banded together on the premise of the classic KISS - Keep it short and simple. Could their streamlined technology model lead the industry in electronic medical records (EMRs) and health information exchanges (HIEs)?
Mitochon Systems is banking on it.
There are 860,000 physicians in the United States and small medical practices provide the majority of health care, said Chris Riley, chief operating officer at Mitochon Systems of Newport Beach, Calif. Less than 10% of these physicians currently use EMRs, he said. Federal stimulus funding will provide Medicare and Medicaid incentives for physicians to adapt EMR echnology and connect into the planned nationwide HIE and statewide HIEs. But where is the incentive for medical professionals, who must then add IT infrastructure implementation into their already busy practices, some experts have pondered.
After all, during the February Health IT Policy Committee, Paul Egerman, co-chair of the Adoption/Certification Workgroup, commented that physicians get visiting rights to incentives money, which then goes directly to their chosen EMR vendor. In addition, the reporting metrics for incentives discourage early adaption, according to a discussion with two New York City physicians.