ARRA and Eclipsys

The recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) creates an unprecedented opportunity for healthcare providers to bring information to the center of care. Providing $19.2 billion in funding for hospitals and physician practices that adopt a certified electronic health record system (EHR), the legislation is anticipated to drive an overwhelming number of providers to invest in and implement healthcare IT solutions over the next several years.

The time to act is now

The clock is ticking for healthcare organizations to not only implement EHR software, but to achieve meaningful use of an EHR — the primary qualifier that defines whether organizations will be eligible to receive financial incentives. The portion of ARRA that earmarks these dollars, known as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), declares that hospitals and physician practices who qualify can begin receiving additional Medicare payments as early as 2011.

The incentives are significant: $5 million to $10 million per hospital, and up to $64,000 per individual, eligible provider that can demonstrate meaningful use of an EHR. The disadvantages of failing to comply are equally significant. Providers who do not demonstrate meaningful use of an EHR by 2015 will be penalized through a 1% annual reduction in Medicare reimbursements (up to 3% total).

Defining meaningful use of an EHR

Since HITECH was passed, the predominant conversation across the industry has been focused on what “meaningful use” truly means — and it still needs to be fully defined by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Early definitions suggest that EHR software will need to be equipped for information exchange to improve the quality of care and facilitate reporting on clinical quality measures.

But it is also likely that the criteria for measuring meaningful use of an EHR will grow more rigorous by the year, and that organizations will be expected to evolve their use of healthcare IT solutions to transform care. As healthcare organizations consider their next steps in investing in, implementing and adopting healthcare IT solutions, they must think not just about the next two to five years, but about long-term reform of the way healthcare is delivered.

ARRA and Eclipsys

Eclipsys solutions position healthcare organizations to meet the new and emerging requirements of HITECH while laying a foundation for future success in a new era of healthcare. Our focus is on three core elements that have been identified as essential to transformative use of health data and technology:

• Adoption. Deep adoption is pivotal to the overarching success of an EHR software implementation, according to a recent report by KLAS. Eclipsys provides intuitive clinical solutions with complex clinical decision support capabilities that provide workflows tailored to how clinicians practice, making them easy to adopt. Eclipsys leads the industry in total physicians live on CPOE solutions; according to KLAS, 25% of all doctors using CPOE on commercial systems use Eclipsys, and users of Eclipsys CPOE solutions have the highest rate of satisfaction.
• Agility. The incentives offered under HITECH will require the industry to move at a faster pace, and in an environment of rapid change. As the definitions of meaningful use and the IT solutions themselves co-evolve over time, healthcare IT solutions will need to be agile. Eclipsys clinical solutions helps healthcare organizations respond to rapidly changing external environments by delivering a depth of clinical expertise in conjunction with an open and up-to-date architecture — allowing rapid deployment of innovations that drive improved outcomes.
• Analytics. The ripple effect of meaningful use will be a new focus in how the data captured in EHRs can be used to better understand diseases and treatments as well as organizational performance and effectiveness. Eclipsys clinical information solutions provide an integrated intelligence and analytics platform optimized for clinical quality improvement. Our healthcare IT solutions allow the capture of structured data without destroying or burdening clinical workflows. Both of these capabilities lead to an outcomes-enabled solution that allows the seamless transformation of clinical data into meaningful information.

Partner with the outcomes leader

As you prepare your organization for this new age in healthcare, discover how Eclipsys can work with you to provide innovative, outcomes-driven technology solutions that will drive adoption, allow you to quickly evolve as needs change, and produce meaningful results from your clinical data. Learn more about our solutions for Hospitals and Physician Practices or contact us for a consultation.