In 2010, the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA) hosted its first Health IT Executive Forum focusing on Federal and State Health IT Initiatives and Principles for Progressing in a Health IT-enabled Future in Maryland at its headquarters in Elkridge, Maryland. Hospital executives from around the state joined MHA, the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC), the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC), Chesapeake Regional Information Systems for our Patients (CRISP) and MdHIMSS to discuss the changing landscape of health IT.
MHA hosted this forum to engage executives in a conversation on current barriers and issues faced by their members in implementing and meaningfully using health IT. Given that each hospital serves different populations in a variety of ways, there were a number of specific concerns voiced. Questions ranged from “How will psychiatric hospitals get funding?” to “What happens with certification if a hospital has built its own proprietary system?” During the discussion about the state of the fragmented vendor market, hospitals talked about what will happen when vendors are acquired or merge (like Allscripts / Misys) and whether there is a large enough, capable workforce to perform the many implementations required to get most physicians to meaningful use. Additionally, as hospitals work to become meaningful users of health IT, the same internal resources will be stretched to transition to IDC 10 codes and upgrade to HIPAA 5010 transactions, discussed further in
The Bigger Picture in Health IT.
With the impending influx of funds for health IT initiatives through ARRA, participants were particularly interested in learning about how incentives and disincentives are going to work in Maryland: how Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements will be calculated, how HSCRC will handle funds distributions and how hospitals can help physicians receive funding. There continue to be unanswered questions given that the definitions of “meaningful use” and “certified technology” have not been finalized by the rule-making process and that the mechanism for processing payments has yet to be announced.
Hospitals were clearly interested in learning more from MHCC on the designation of Management Services Organizations (MSOs) under
House Bill 706 and participating in the process. MHCC stated that the accreditation criteria are currently being determined and that all of the stakeholders will work together to figure out what makes sense, without eliminating hospitals from becoming eligible.
These conversations will continue at the next MHA Health IT Executive forum on February, 8, 2010 at which time the topic “Defining and Understanding Federal and State Hospital Opportunities” will be addressed. Specifically, MHA will delve into how hospitals can get funding and what the payment structure will look like. By then, the federal government will have provided more clarity on these issues.
Audacious Inquiry facilitated the discussion and worked with MHA to provide accurate, relevant content on the dynamic issues hospitals face today.