The news may not be of a surprise to anyone who works in a smaller medical practice, Commonwealth Fund has revealed a new that shows that solo physicians are half as likely to adopt the EHR technology as compared to the larger group of primary care providers. Practices of twenty or more have an overall EHR adoption rate of 90%. While one in two solo practitioners have access to this technology.
Although small practices have been supported by regional extension centers (RECs) and encouraged by incentive payments, those practices that have distributed the financial burden between themselves are more successful in overcoming the barriers that are consistently faced by the solo practitioners.

The collected data from 2009 to 2012 confirms that despite the $18 billion in incentive payments from CMS the obstacles faced by small practices haven’t gone away. A significant financial expenditure is needed to build infrastructure and upgrade computers which is not possible for the solo practitioners. Despite the work of RECs that offers valuable guidance during the process of picking an EHR, meeting the challenges of Meaningful Use etc. physicians themselves need to take a great deal of monetary responsibility on their own shoulders for the success of these projects.

Physician who read the horror stories of hospitals getting bankrupted may not want to risk their business that they have created from nothing. Older providers who are nearing retirement see little reason to invest in this technology that is difficult to use for them.

Patient interaction is important to those physicians who work in the independent settings and this is no secret that patient-physician relationship changes when a laptop enters the room. A research study from Northwestern University verifies that physician get absorbed in their screens  to a high extent, frustrating their patients who rely on a personal connection to most actively participate in their care.

Those solo physicians who have accepted Medicare might start regretting their decisions that they have made once they start facing the financial penalties for not participating in the EHR Incentive Programs. Two percent of Medicare reimbursements don’t seem like a killer, but CMS also requires participation in a variety of different electronic quality programs that gets easier when a provider uses EHR. Those who drop out of this can find around 10% of their reimbursements stop pouring in through the door and this can be a big problem for solo doctors.

Independent physicians who are at the edge regarding the EHR adoption still have lots of resources to help them who are on the hurdle regarding the adoption of EHR still have plenty of resources available to them and they are not alone in this.

http://www.curemd.com/smartEHR/index.html