Opportunity Knocks

As business owners, we all expend a great amount of energy trying to identify new opportunities and new markets. But sometimes these opportunities and markets are so close they are overlooked. In essence, we can’t see the forest for all the trees.

The health care industry is a perfect example. As most records centers are already serving this industry and have developed strong relationships, electronic records management is simply the next step in continuing your outstanding service to this lucrative market. 
 

UNDERSTANDING EMR

As technologies change, new opportunities arise, and it is important that we all understand some of the basics before we reach out to existing or potential clients. Here, I will break down of some key concepts.

A fundamental shift in the way companies store, access and destroy documents has occurred. Companies are moving away from the traditional hard copy records to an enterprise content management (ECM) system. When an ECM system is placed in the context of the health care industry, it is referred to as electronic medical records (EMR). Other names apply as well. For example, electronic health record (EHR) and computerized patient record (CPR) are sometimes used. Although other names exist within the health care industry for this information, they are most commonly referred to as EMR.

A more detailed definition of an EHR is: “An EHR or electronic patient record (EPR) is an evolving concept that can be defined as a systematic collection of electronic health information about individual patients or populations. It is a record in digital format that is capable of being shared across different health care settings by being embedded in network-connected enterprise-wide information systems. Such records may include a whole range of data in comprehensive or summary form. The records can include demographics, medical history, medication and allergies, immunization status, laboratory test results, radiology images and billing information.

“Its purpose can be understood as a complete record of patient encounters that allows the automation and streamlining of the workflow in health care settings and increases safety through evidence-based decision support, quality management and outcomes reporting.”

With this in mind, the government is requiring medical practices to adopt an EMR system or get decreased Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. This position was adopted through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in the part of the bill known as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

ENCOURAGING PARTICIPATION

In an effort to ensure compliance, the government sweetened the bill by offering $19 billion to physicians who adopt a meaningful use of health information technology. The catch to this is that once the $19 billion is gone, the practices that didn’t get aboard early may miss out. The benefits physicians can realize through adopting EMR are demonstrated in the charts on page 23, at right.

The maximum incentive for physicians to adopt EMR for Medicare clients will be $44,000 per physician, depending on when providers implement EMR. To receive the full amount, physicians must implement EMR by 2012. No payment will be made available after 2015.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that as a result of this legislation approximately 90 percent of physicians and 70 percent of hospitals will be using comprehensive electronic health records within the next decade.

Of the nearly 790,000 physicians in the United States, the Center for Disease Control estimates that 56 percent have no EMR/EHR adoption, 21 percent have basic adoption, 17 percent have partial adoption and 6 percent have full adoption.

Therefore, this is a huge opportunity for records centers that already have medical clients to present with a new service.

REALIZING THE OPPORTUNITY

As you can see, this is an outstanding opportunity for our industry, so be prepared. Don’t look at this as a reduction in the paper you currently store; look at this as an opportunity to offer an EMR solution and value-added service to help your clients manage their transition to EMR. This opportunity could come in the form of document services, such as scanning your health care clients’ current records to an EMR system, refiling documents they are required to keep and shredding the documents they no longer need. This will be the best way to offset shrinking hardcopy revenue.

One of the most important benefits to records centers getting involved with an EMR solution is the new level of relationship you will have with the medical practices you are servicing. If you are their EMR provider/reseller, they will most likely look to you and not to another company for the accompanying scanning, document managing and shredding services, as you provide one point of contact and one invoice for multiple services.

Right now there are three types of EMR systems: client server, hosted client server and cloud (software as a service, SaaS). Client-server EMR systems reside on the physician’s own hardware and need to be supported by the physician’s staff or by an outside firm. With the hosted client server, the data is on a server at a data center and accessed by a virtual private connection over the Internet. Cloud-based solutions have been designed from the ground up as a true Internet application; all clients are using the same software and the same version. Right now, cloud based solutions are gaining over the traditional methods because of many factors, such as lower capital expenditures, rapid deployment, device independence, reliability, security and scalability.

With the addition of a cloud-based EMR solution to your menu of records center services, you can provide a beneficial service for your medical clients. First, your clients will not have to add additional staff to support the EMR because it is supported by the developer and, secondly, it’s a subscription service that helps keep the barrier of entry low. There are no license fees or hardware upgrades, and your clients may come to rely on your expertise in this area, providing longer lasting benefits to your facility and strengthening client relationships. Having relied on you initially to manage and store their patient records, the health care providers you count among your clientele are likely to turn to you for additional products and services they require.

The term “value-add partner” has never had a more appropriate meaning in defining the future growth of your medical client base. With the addition of an EMR solution, your organization may be able to compete for storage and scanning revenue that you previously were unable to obtain.

Joining and being active in associations like MGMA (Medical Group Managers Association) and AHIMA (Association of Health and Information Management Association) will surely add to your knowledge of the medical industry and to your sales pipeline. By being the first in your marketplace to offer a solution to EMR, you will be securing your place in the transition. Not only will this increase your value to existing clients, it will also give you added appeal to new clients, bringing your organization to the realm of the “go to” provider for electronic records management.