I read an interesting post recently, titled “Health IT Is The New Black”, revolving around the level of interest healthcare technologies companies are receiving from investors after the epic collapse the sector had as part of the crash in 2000. The article cites a few reasons (which I agree with) and I thought it would be interesting to see how these factors have specifically impacted charge capture.
The passage of the HITECH Act, whereby Congress bestowed a $40 Billion stimulus gift on those willing to make a go of building companies in the EHR and connectivity sector
- We have covered this topic sufficiently in a previous post here.
The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which requires the delivery of sophisticated technology to address massive cost inefficiencies in the U.S. healthcare system
- Although when passed, I was very excited at what this bill could mean for charge capture, it has yet to make any real impact. The hope is that 30 million new patients in an already congested system would force physicians and institutions to adopt mobile technology, just to keep from falling off a cliff. In addition, the bill basically calls for our solution! Our goal and service revolves around improving cost inefficiencies by reducing lost charges. However, this bill has yet to change the charge capture landscape, but hopefully this will change over time.
The now-near universal access to Internet, broadband and wireless technologies at every significant U.S. clinical organization;
- This is only partially true, most new clients complain about the poor wireless and cellular infrastructure when they are at facilities outside their office. It’s why we had to introduce an online and offline mode feature within MD Coder.
The sudden ubiquity of smart phone and iPad like products that put cheap computing power in the hands of physicians and consumers alike; and, The groundswell of recognition by everyone that the healthcare system just can’t justify the level of waste and inefficiency it has achieved by failing to enter the information age, as every other American industry has done, unless we want to re-invent ourselves economically as a third world country
- There is no doubt that the ridiculous market penetration of the iPhone, iPad, and Android has given many more users the option of using mobile charge capture than ever before. However, the flood of individual products (clinical and financial) has lead to confusion by physicians, who really want a turnkey package to handle all aspects of the encounter. I hope the last thought regarding the groundswell is true, because I don’t believe people really understand how backwards the healthcare system can be. I do believe if we do not correct it quickly, we are looking at dire consequences.
