MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Very few ambulatory surgery centers are implementing electronic health records, even as they acknowledge that paper charts are increasingly becoming antiquated and may be costing them money.
The results of a survey recently released by Wolters Kluwer Health found that only 18 percent of about 175 ambulatory surgery centers have such records systems.
The need for electronic documentation of clinical results is expected to rise in coming years as the government shifts surgery center reimbursement to a model that will call for careful cost management and accurate billing.
This year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services began a four-year process to phase in a new reimbursement schedule for surgery centers, and CMS has added about 800 surgical procedures that qualify for reimbursement when done in ambulatory settings, said Arvind Subramanian, president and CEO of Minneapolis-based Wolters Kluwer Health Clinical Solutions.
“These changes present both opportunities and challenges for ASCs and compel them to examine best documentation and billing practices, which directly impact revenue and reimbursement,” he said.
The survey, which asked ASC administrators to predict the effect of the rules on future revenue, found that 42 percent expect revenues to decline.
These negative perceptions about Medicare reimbursement could have two possible effects on spending on electronic medical records, said Andre L’Heureux, vice president of marketing and business development for the clinical solutions division.
“It can slow down adoption, because centers don’t have the money to spend on a system,” he said. “Or it can cause operators to realize they need efficiency and more payment from the work they’re doing. As reimbursement becomes more tied to the ability to measure your own quality, paper systems just won’t cut it.”