EHR is here to stay. The government subsidy is not.
Physicians that have not adopted EHR and achieved ‘meaningful use’ in 2011, have left $18,000 on the table. Yup, that’s more than 1.5 years’ worth of car payments on a high end BMW or Mercedes. Physicians that don’t achieve meaningful use’ in 2012 are leaving another $18,000 on the table. In 2013 it will be $12,000 and by 2014 that number will drop to $8,000.
Physicians that pay a staff to submit insurance paperwork are also leaving money on the table includeing:
- The salaries of all the employees that are submitting claims.
- The insurance companies refusing to pay the first submission 50 percent of the time.
- The time that it takes for the checks from the insurance company to arrive.
Go through those stacks of paper and you’ll find checks that have NOT been deposited.
EHR and PM systems turn the claim refusals into >85% first time claim acceptance.
EHR and PM Systems eliminate the salaries of the clerks hired to submit paperwork.
EHR and PM Systems assist with insurance code changes.
EHR and PM systems reduce the time to get paid to 2 days – electronically.
EHR and PM systems eliminate lost and non-deposited checks.
And physicians that meet meaningful compliance this year, in 2012 receive a check from the government in:
- 2012 for 18k
- 2013 for 12k
- 2014 for 8k
That’s the carrot. The stick is they are going to reduced Medicare reimbursements by a rising amount each year too. The good is that IT Computer Support of New York will make the cost of converting to EHR lower than the government reimbursement. The bad is that if you don’t adopt EHR you will lose money – big time. The ugly is you have to change to a new system, and we all hate change. But if you will change, isn’t it better to change now and reap the benefits earlier rather than later?
- Dan Scolnick
IT Computer Support of New York
President and Chief Technical Officer
