Merging IT and Clinical Engineering

The convergence of information technology systems with clinic engineering has the potential to increase efficiency and decrease lag-time between medical technologies that are already part of an EMR network.

Clinical engineering is a division of biomedical engineering that deals with the implementation of medical technology and the optimization of healthcare delivery.

The fusion between the knowledge of clinical engineering and healthcare IT, along with the other related and associated management processes, such as EMR software, would allow for new models of care delivery beyond the current limitations of healthcare delivery. In Conference News in Health Imaging, Vi Shaffer, research vice president at Gartner Inc., a technology research company, is reported to believe that the convergence will bring about advancements in the hospital network, ambulances, the ER, and it may even result in the a substantial expansion of telemedicine.

Telemedicine is the delivery of clinical health care through telecommunication and information technologies remotely.

Shaffer also makes note that planning and technical support is extremely necessary for physicians to come together in order to learn the new technologies and have collaborative relationships and environments. Additionally, health IT certification training is important for staff and technicians responsible for planning, selecting, implementing, and managing electronic health records and other health information technology.

Financial Penalty Used as Incentive for EMR Adoption

As more doctors convert to electronic medical record systems, there is hope to see advances in health care delivery and operations.

The federal government is helping to drive these changes with subsidies that partially cover the expenses of converting to electronic medical health records from paper systems.

Since financial incentives have proven not to be enough to motivate doctors, there will be financial penalties put in place to encourage doctors to implement an electronic system by 2015.

According to an article published on New Jersey Spotlight, the federal government has already given doctors in the state of New Jersey $38 million in subsidies for EMR conversion. Almost 27 percent of the state's doctors have already converted according to Colleen Woods, New Jersey Health Information Technology coordinator. Woods estimates that that number will exceed 80 percent when Medicare imposes financial penalties.

This article explains that what is happening in New Jersey is that many practices are small, with only one or two doctors, and it doesn’t make sense financially to implement an electronic system.

It’s imaginable that many other small doctor’s offices in other states across the county feel the same way.

Starting in 2015, 1 percent of Medicare reimbursement will be withheld by the government for doctors offices that do no have EMR software and systems in place. Small practices will now have to revaluate the financial pros and cons, and when doing so will mostly likely be compelled to join the other digital doctors.