HIMSS14 Attendees: Full Potential Of MU Not Met
According to recent study, many feel that the full potential of MU has not been met
A recent study conducted by Stoltenberg Consulting at the 2014 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition concluded nearly 50 percent of those surveyed believe lack of resources was one of the biggest barriers to successfully meeting MU. Other issues brought up include tight time frames, completing health IT projects, and the lack of buy-in from others in the organizations. As reported by Government Health IT, "Seventy percent of respondents said they don't think their organizations are making the most of MU."
According to the survey results, "Nearly half of respondents (47 percent) said ICD-10 would be their chief IT priority in 2014, and just over one quarter (27 percent) said big data would be top-of-mind. Smaller percentages (16 percent and 10 percent, respectively) said they are still grappling with EHR implementation and meaningful use. One takeaway from the poll suggests that too many providers are looking at data and analytics as something to be tackled after MU, rather than concurrent with it, and that many are simply unsure of how to proceed."
Shane Pilcher, VP of Stoltenberg Consulting, said in a press release, "While many organizations may view MU as a must-do regulatory requirement, it is actually much more. Organizations need to view MU as a strategy, discipline, and process that facilitates healthcare transformation and eases transitions to initiatives such as full patient engagement, value-based accountable care, and population health management." Pilcher also emphasized "smart healthcare data is the key, focusing on the type of data they have, the volume of the data, and validity of the data. They must make sure that what they're collecting is what they're expecting.
"Organizations need to understand and differentiate big data from the more appropriate 'smart healthcare data.' Today they are collecting data, which usually gets stored somewhere inside data warehouses in hopes that it will eventually be used in the next five years or so."
According to Healthcare IT News, "While MU remains a challenge for some providers, for most it's taken a back seat, either to more pressing concerns such as ID-10, with its Oct. 1, 2014 deadline, or to larger, and ideally more transformative, projects, such as data analytics initiatives."