Meaningful Use Will Force Doctors into ACOs

They have made this mu reporting so bad….as our doctor says…they do not want doctor’s to practice by themselves…They are doing all they can to get them into ACOS… The above is a quote from an EMR and HIPAA reader who emailed me about the meaningful use requirements. The conclusion was what really caught my attention. There are a number of questions that should be asked based on the statement above. Does the government want doctors to not practice by themselves? No one in government would say this and this isn’t their thought process at all. What they do want to see is a reform to how we pay for healthcare. If that means that doctors no longer practice on their own, I think they’re ok with that. I don’t think that’s the conclusion they’ve come to yet, but I think that’s what the reader is insinuating in the above comments. Personally I think it will be a tragedy for the physician community if we no longer have solo doctors and small group practices. Does the government want all doctors in an ACO? Absolutely. They are pushing accountable care organizations and anything that will get us away from the fee for service model that we have today. Right now they think that ACOs are the path to get to a pay for performance system. That means they need every doctor in an ACO for it to work. Is meaningful use designed to be hard to encourage doctors to move to ACOs? No. Meaningful use was designed to be as hard a...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Tags: ACO ARRA EHR EHR Stimulus Electronic Health Record Electronic Medical Record EMR Healthcare HealthCare IT HITECH Meaningful Use ACOs EMR and HIPAA Reader Meaningful Use Stage 1 Source Type: blogs