Information technology expenditures in medical practices have risen 27.8 percent since 2008 reports a cost survey released by the Medical Group Management Association, according to an article on the Healthcare Finance News web site. The article is based on a story published by Medical Practice Insider.
The median expenditure per full-time equivalent physician in 2008 was $15,211. In 2012, it was $19,439. Driving the increase in IT purchasing, MGMA said in its report, are federal incentives to encourage physicians to invest.
“Due to the incentivization that was going on, people have made that [EHR] investment and they realize that moving forward, over time, that was truly the carrot of things — we’re going to encourage you to make this investment,” Todd Evenson, vice president of consulting services and data solutions for MGMA-ACMPE, according to the article. The “stick” will be reductions in reimbursements.
MGMA’s cost report also showed that the growing investments in information technology includes investment in people. Medical groups are more likely to want to have IT professionals on staff, Evenson said, in order to service their data needs moving forward.
Despite the increased investment in IT in recent years, the industry-wide embrace of EHRs is not a done deal. Tenuous business environments still hamper universal buy-in.
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