HP Offers Hospitals, Doctors EHR HelpHP Offers Hospitals, Doctors EHR Help

With tens of thousands of small, independent physician practices in the U.S.---many of them spread apart by dozens of miles in rural communities--one good way to get the word out to them about the government's meaningful use of health IT programs is to reach them through their affiliated hospitals. That's what Hewlett Packard is trying to help hospitals do via a new program introduced today.

The HP EHReady offering is aimed at helping hospitals work with their affiliated doctors in deploying electronic health records. Under HP EHReady, HP will provide hospitals with customized or standard marketing support services to educate affiliated physicians about programs to get doctors deploying e-health record systems in their practices.

"Affiliated doctors are the free agents of the future," said Chris Mertens, VP of HP personal systems group healthcare business.

"Electronic records allow patient information to be sent to different hospitals," he said.

Hospitals will increasingly be seeking "ways to provide value" to doctors "and show why these physicians should stay affiliated" with a particular hospital, he said.

Hospitals that are assisting, supporting or encouraging doctors to deploy e-health records can tap EHReady to get the word out about the programs available to physicians, he said.

Beginning in 2011, hospitals and doctors will be eligible to receive financial rewards from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for their "meaningful use" of health IT, including EHRs, under the $20 billion-plus HITECH Act signed into law in February 2009.

However, it's estimated that fewer than 20% of the nation's healthcare providers are currently using fully functional health IT systems.

Some hospitals are reaching out to doctors to encourage or assist in the use of ehealth record systems.

That help from hospitals is coming in a variety of ways, including offering affiliated doctors hosted e-health record applications; subsidizing doctors' software purchases through relaxed Stark anti-kickback regulations; providing software discounts through volume deals with EHR vendors; or allowing doctors to access hospital e-health records systems, said Mertens.

In addition, under the new EHReady offering, doctor practices can get flexible financing options for purchases of HP laptops, desktops, tablets, scanners and other gear that are part of e-health deployments.

Also, through HP's network of value-added resellers, EHReady also provides affiliated doctors with services, such as site assessments and gap analysis to determine how prepared a physician office is to install an EHR system. In addition to that, services also offered include system installation, training, break-fix and ongoing support, he said.

In addition to offering EHReady through its network of resellers, HP will also partner with various medical associations and regional extension centers to get the word out about its hospital/doctor affiliate offerings, said Mertens.

EHReady is HP's latest move directed at helping small doctor practices deploying ehealth records. In January, the company announced a pact to offer McKesson's practice management and e-health record software bundled on HP hardware.