With new health information technologies appearing regularly, requirements for meaningful use confusing, and EHR incentives that quickly convert to penalties, the small practice provider could easily drown in the alphabet soup of HITECH, ARRA, ONC, REC, and HIE. The little guy likely feels like he or she has few allies and little chance of comprehending requirements and achieving them fully.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Doug Fridsma, Director, Office of Standards and Interoperability at the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology. The ONC just announced its progress with the Direct Project , which has a refreshing emphasis on the ‘little guy’. According to Dr. Fridsma, “as we think about solving some of the problems that we need (to address) in modernizing our health care system, we want to make sure that we meet the needs of the little guy.” The Direct Project is one of the ONC’s strategies to do just this.
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| Dr. Doug Fridsma, Director, Office of Standards and Interoperability, ONC |
HIT has historically been expensive and confusing, particularly for small providers. In the past, adopting HIT required large investments, significant training, and frequently trade-offs for the backbone of our health care system. Practice Fusion, as well as other web-based EHRs, has created innovative ways of addressing these adoption barriers and become an advocate for enabling physicians to access technologies that will improve their practice and patient outcomes. As Dr. Fridsma said, “One would hope that it becomes possible for the smaller practioners and smaller practices to have the same level of integration and exchange that’s enjoyed by the larger organizations.” It is exciting that the ONC recognizes this issue, understands how HIT adoption is challenging and costly, and is looking for creative means by which to address the issue.
Dr. Fridsma’s concerns and insights tie directly to those issues that Practice Fusion is aggressively seeking to resolve. Take information exchange as an example. The ONC notes that communication between providers using legacy EHR systems needs significant changes and adapting these EHR technologies to enable this functionality will be costly – to the little guy. The Direct Project is a response to this need and potentially a means by which to mitigate significant costs. Practice Fusion and other web-based EHR vendors are taking a different approach. By creating a large web-based community, Practice Fusion creates a powerful network of providers with interconnectivity at the heart of their EHR product. Further, the technology enables web-based EHRs to leapfrog Direct Project technology.
In the end though, our system must be patient-centric. As Dr. Fridsma said, “I think true success comes when people stop talking about the standards and they start talking about the great things that they can do in terms of improving patient care, improving the quality of care that is delivered, and improving the coordination that occurs within the health care system.” Aligned with the ONC, Practice Fusion is enabling doctors to move beyond worrying about the standards and giving providers the tools they need to concentrate on what matters: the patient.
Thomas McMennamin
Health Policy Manager
Practice Fusion EHR
