Here we are less than two months away from the two year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) passed by the United States’ 111th Congress back in February of 2009. As we all know, its intention was to create jobs and promote investment and consumer spending in an effort to recover from a recession. The Act’s roots go back to a Keynesian economic tradition that argues that government budget deficits should be used to cover the output gap created by the lack of consumer spending, specifically during a recession. Regardless of its intentions, the question we’re asking at this stage of the game is, “What impact has it made so far, positive or negative, and what can we expect, particularly in relevance to the Healthcare Community?”
First, a little disclaimer about myself. I am by no means the ‘know all, be all” authority on ARRA or “Meaningful Use” and the material covered in this article barely exposes the tip of the iceberg related to the government incentives. With that I must also say that the consultants and implementation specialists here at Santa Rosa are fully capable and qualified to guide you through the maze related to achieving the requirements of “Meaningful Use”.
So let’s take a look at some of the positive aspects that we are able to recognize so far. First we’ve seen a substantial creation of jobs in the Healthcare industry, both clinical and non-clinical. So far, the numbers are impressive: More than 200,000 clinical and non-clinical jobs have been created by the stimulus and over 5.6 million hires have been made since enactment. Much of this has been in Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) with tens of thousands of IT professionals being hired for healthcare related technical roles alone. Other primary sectors that have seen this increase have been Medical and allied-health training as well as Community Health. For the Medical and Allied-health training sector, much of the dollars has been for training nurses and other Practitioners:
- $200 million for nursing workforce development
- $500 million incentive for doctors, dentists and other practitioners to work in underserved rural and inner-city areas
Another huge financial injection was made to the Community Health Centers. Much of this money was to boost the primary care access at community health centers. “The National Health Service Corps will play a central role – it received an additional $1.5 billion in the reform bill to assist and place more than 15,000 primary care clinicians by 2015,” says Dan Hawkins, Senior Vice President for the Policy and Programs at the National Association of Community Health Centers. In those very same interests, another $85 million in funding was made for the Indian Health Service to develop projects such as TeleHealth Services.
And of course we have to give a fair shake for the negative impacts that have either been experienced or are expected to become a serious topic for discussion as the incentive monies begin to flow and cloud the better judgment of those standing in line with their hands stretched out. One area that physicians are beginning to become more disgruntled with is the fact that they must wade through paperwork to get clearance to prescribe drugs that may not be on the state’s approved list. Many feel that this is and will tie their hands in prescribing medications that could otherwise decrease the recovery time for medication treatable illnesses and procure a higher cost in treatment plans. One area foreseen to be an issue is the access to “Meaningful Use” information that may allow government officials to steer doctors toward making cost-effective – instead of health-conscious – treatments or practices. This could also include federal officials urging doctors to skip certain tests due to low number of positive results or the cost versus benefit factor.
Embracing HIT could improve medical care. But doctors, not government officials, must use the information to plan the best treatment for their patients. Regardless of the good and bad scenarios that we’ve encountered or expect to overcome, the healthcare community has embraced the economic opportunities that are at hand while understanding the regulatory conditions the government has placed on these monies. The term “Meaningful Use”, though not fully understood by a frightening number of practitioners, and the achievement of “Meaningful Use” has created a division of “can and cannots” in the Healthcare Software application arena. Among the many that are 2011 CCHIT certified, such as NextGen® Healthcare’s Ambulatory product suite, meeting the requirement of “Meaningful Use” hardly becomes an issue of the applications as these mouse traps are very well built to catch the mouse. Where the issues typically lie are the adoption and full acceptance by the providers which can be achieved through the ability and effectiveness of the implementation and integration of the product. Basically, teaching how to USE the mouse trap while retaining the interest and focus of the end result. What is the end result? To achieve “Meaningful Use”, perhaps, but not for the financial incentives but rather for the directives of instituting a set of guidelines that allows us to receive and provide better healthcare through the elimination of errors caused by a lack of the information required to effectively treat patients.
Santa Rosa Consulting has the implementation expertise to ensure that your organization can meet the requirements of achieving “Meaningful Use”. For more information on meeting the requirements of “Meaningful Use” with the assistance of our professional and experienced consultants, checkout our web site at www.santarosaconsulting.com or send us an email at contactus@santarosaconsulting.com and we’ll have a healthcare professional contact you.
Troy Teasdale
Associate Partner, NextGen Services
Santa Rosa Consulting