HIPAA Blog

[ Thursday, March 12, 2009 ]

 

Why WalMart (or more accurately, Sam's Club) Matters: I noted immediately below the story on Sam's Club (partnering with Dell and eClinicalWorks) to provide low-cost EMRs to small physician practices. It's important to note that physicians don't get as much Stimulus money as hospitals do for EMR, it's paid out over time, and the punishment for not going electronic (in the future) will be reductions in Medicare payment rates, which won't matter much to a physician practice with a minimal Medicare/Medicaid patient population (think pediatrics and ob/gyn). As such, the so-called Stimulus Bill might not stimulate much in the way of physician EMR adoption. At least that's what some folks at Avalere Health are saying. If the costs of EMR exceed the Stimulus carrots-and-sticks, unless there's a clear financial benefit otherwise, expect adoption to be less than complete.

Jeff [5:15 PM]

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