I was on a call recently with someone who started to state that it was inevitable that the payers would start requiring doctors be meaningful users of a certified EHR. I wouldn’t say that it’s 100% sure that payers won’t adopt meaningful use, but I think it’s far from a forgone conclusion that they’ll jump on the meaningful use bandwagon as well.
Before I get into some of the various rationale for why they will or won’t, I’d love to see what you think in the poll embedded beloww:
Will payers adopt meaningful use?
Those who think that payers will start requiring meaningful use if you want the highest reimbursement rate usually point to the fact that the payers have often followed whatever Medicare is doing. This is true and so it is possible that they’ll piggyback the meaningful use train.
Those who say they won’t do it will say that meaningful use doesn’t really align with what the payers want to accomplish. There are elements that interest them, but it goes too far in many areas.
I’d say that most payers will probably not hop on the meaningful use bandwagon. However, I’m sure that they’ll let Medicare take the lumps while they sit back and watch how doctors react to meaningful use. If a large portion of doctors opt out of meaningful use, then I can’t imagine payers hopping on that train and making all of those doctors angry. I see payers just sitting back and watching how MU plays out before making any firm decisions.
In the end, I think payers will adopt something that may include some elements of MU that align with their business interests. I’ll just be very surprised if they just take MU on in its current state.
What do you think?
