REC Data Shows Docs Waiting for Vendor EHR Upgrades

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | February 10, 2012

Physicians have reported to regional health IT extension centers that waiting for vendor technology upgrades and subsequent certification are among their biggest barriers for meeting meaningful use. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has analyzed early information from the extension centers about the reported obstacles that their enrolled physicians face in transforming their practices.

As of January, ONC had received 4,100 reports of barriers from the extension centers. Some physicians reported more than one, said ONC staffer Dawn Heisey-Grove. The extension centers found that vendor selection accounted for the largest portion, or 34 percent, of all reported barriers. But the problems related to vendors are not for a lack of them.

“My general sense is I think it may be an overabundance of choices. Hundreds are certified. And a large portion of providers were doing rip-and-replace,” she told a Feb. 7 meeting of the meaningful use panel of the advisory Health IT Policy Committee...