TY - JOUR
T1 - Medicare Incentive Payments to United States Ophthalmologists for Use of Electronic Health Records
T2 - 2011–2016
AU - Boland, Michael V.
AU - Hwang, Thomas S.
AU - Lim, Michele C.
AU - Peterson, Jessica L.
AU - Lum, Flora
AU - Lee, Aaron Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (grant no.: K23EY029246 [A.Y.L.]); and Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc, New York, New York. The sponsor or funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research. Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have made the following disclosure(s): M.V.B.: Consultant – Heidelberg Engineering. A.Y.L.: Financial support – Novartis, Carl Zeiss Meditec, NVIDIA Corporation, Microsoft Corporation; Lecturer – Topcon Corporation. Supported by the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (grant no.: K23EY029246 [A.Y.L.]); and Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc, New York, New York. The sponsor or funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research. Obtained funding: N/A
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Academy of Ophthalmology
PY - 2019/7
Y1 - 2019/7
N2 - Purpose: To investigate ophthalmologists’ rate of attestation to meaningful use (MU) of their electronic health record (EHR) systems in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program and their continuity and success in receiving payments in comparison with other specialties. Design: Administrative database study. Participants: Eligible professionals participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. Methods: Based on publicly available data sources, subsets of payment and attestation data were created for ophthalmologists and for other specialties. The number of eligible professionals attesting was determined using the attestation data for each year and stage of the program. The proportion of attestations by EHR vendor was calculated using all attestations for each vendor. Main Outcome Measures: Numbers of ophthalmologists attesting by year and stage of the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, incentive payments, and number of attestations by EHR vendor. Results: In the peak year of participation, 51.6% of ophthalmologists successfully attested to MU, compared with 37.1% of optometrists, 50.2% of dermatologists, 54.5% of otolaryngologists, and 64.4% of urologists. Across the 6 years of the program, ophthalmologists received an average of $17 942 in incentive payments compared with $11 105 for optometrists, $16 617 for dermatologists, $20 203 for otolaryngologists, and $23 821 for urologists. Epic and Nextgen were the most frequently used EHRs for attestation by ophthalmologists. Conclusions: Ophthalmology as a specialty performed better than optometry and dermatology, but worse than otolaryngology and urology, in terms of the proportion of eligible professionals attesting to MU of EHRs. Ophthalmologists were more likely to remain in the program after their initial year of attestation compared with all eligible providers. The top 4 EHR vendors accounted for 50% of attestations by ophthalmologists.
AB - Purpose: To investigate ophthalmologists’ rate of attestation to meaningful use (MU) of their electronic health record (EHR) systems in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program and their continuity and success in receiving payments in comparison with other specialties. Design: Administrative database study. Participants: Eligible professionals participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. Methods: Based on publicly available data sources, subsets of payment and attestation data were created for ophthalmologists and for other specialties. The number of eligible professionals attesting was determined using the attestation data for each year and stage of the program. The proportion of attestations by EHR vendor was calculated using all attestations for each vendor. Main Outcome Measures: Numbers of ophthalmologists attesting by year and stage of the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, incentive payments, and number of attestations by EHR vendor. Results: In the peak year of participation, 51.6% of ophthalmologists successfully attested to MU, compared with 37.1% of optometrists, 50.2% of dermatologists, 54.5% of otolaryngologists, and 64.4% of urologists. Across the 6 years of the program, ophthalmologists received an average of $17 942 in incentive payments compared with $11 105 for optometrists, $16 617 for dermatologists, $20 203 for otolaryngologists, and $23 821 for urologists. Epic and Nextgen were the most frequently used EHRs for attestation by ophthalmologists. Conclusions: Ophthalmology as a specialty performed better than optometry and dermatology, but worse than otolaryngology and urology, in terms of the proportion of eligible professionals attesting to MU of EHRs. Ophthalmologists were more likely to remain in the program after their initial year of attestation compared with all eligible providers. The top 4 EHR vendors accounted for 50% of attestations by ophthalmologists.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ophtha.2019.01.030
DO - 10.1016/j.ophtha.2019.01.030
M3 - Article
C2 - 30768941
AN - SCOPUS:85062272271
SN - 0161-6420
VL - 126
SP - 928
EP - 934
JO - Ophthalmology
JF - Ophthalmology
IS - 7
ER -