New Healthcare Laws Reward Conversion to Electronic Medical Records
Recently enacted healthcare reform is encouraging physicians to quickly convert patient records to electronic form. Properly implemented, such records save practices time and money and reduce liability.
Online, October 19, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Although only about 30% of physicians in the United States currently utilize an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system in their practices, recent governmental changes enacted by the 2009 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are likely to result in an acceleration of adoption of this system in the next few years.
In 2009, Congress enacted a two-pronged formula consisting of both incentives and penalties intended to encourage doctors not currently utilizing EMR to begin the transition process. Incentives of up to $44,000 per physician adopting EMR and penalties such as decreased Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for doctors who fail to adopt EMR by 2015 were implemented in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
An electronic medical record (EMR) is a computerized medical record created by physicians to keep track of patient contacts, diagnoses, billing, and related matters. Properly implemented, such records save practices time and money and, most importantly, reduce liability by reducing sources of human error. Millennium Enterprises is a privately-held, Phoenix-based company dedicated to the promulgation of EMR throughout the medical community. Its ability to offer on-site technical support and direct transcription to EMR uniquely situates it to compete in this burgeoning market.