Like many physician practices large and small, the Wisconsin Medical Society has been tracking the activities and initiatives related to Health Information Technology and Interoperability. At the Governor's eHealth Care Quality and Patient Safety Board meeting December 10 , preliminary results of the 2008 Wisconsin Ambulatory HIT Adoption Survey were shared.

The Good News: Wisconsin physician practices have an estimated EHR adoption rate that is comparable or greater than the national average on basic functionality. Basic EHR functionality includes items such as patient list of medications, clinical notes and orders for prescriptions. Of those Wisconsin practices responding to the survey who have not yet implemented an EHR application, nearly 60 percent plan to do so in the next few years.

The Bad News: The rate of EHR adoption (basic functionality) by groups with less than 50 physicians is much lower both in Wisconsin and nationally than for practices with more than 50 physicians. (For example, an estimated 18 percent adoption for practices with 6-10 physicians vs. an estimated 70 percent to 85 percent adoption for practices with 50 or more physicians). The top three barriers to EHR adoption reported by practices with fewer than 50 physicians were the amount of capital needed, uncertainty about the return on investment and finding a system that meets the practices' needs.

The Society has been actively engaged at a state and national level with various eHealth initiatives. In November, the Society's Quality and Efficiency Department recruited and hired a new staff member to coordinate and manage activities related to eHealth. Michelle Klagos, the Society's new Quality and Efficiency Specialist, has many years of clinical experience as a medical assistant in urgent care and pediatrics. During the last three and a half years, Michelle was a clinical analyst for UW Health. She played a lead role in the workflow analysis and implementation efforts of the EPIC electronic health record system (EHR) for UW Health primary care and specialty practices.

Klagos’s initial work for the Society will focus on:

• conducting a series of Webinar/education sessions on two CMS physician incentive programs: e-prescribing and PQRI
• planning for the recruitment and engagement of small group practices in the CMS EHR demonstration project
• identifying and communicating standard workflow improvement within and between provider practices that can increase the value/return on an eHealth investment

"Technology is the tool. Who uses the technology and how it is designed to be used is critical to both provider and patient satisfaction" said Klagos, who says she has a passion for optimizing the knowledge and processes of the clinic team (medical records staff, receptionist, medical assistant, nurses and physicians) into the use of an electronic system--with the goal of more effective and efficient patient care.

Please stay tuned to updates on the Society's activities in eHealth. If you or your someone in you practice has questions, comments or need a resource on e-prescribing, the ehr demonstration project or other related issues, please contact Michelle Klagos or any member of the Q & E staff.