Nextgov

For hospital IT executives who are trying to meet federal "meaningful use" standards for electronic health records by early spring, it was a rough fall.

In August, 28 percent of respondents to an online survey by the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME) said they expected to attain those standards and qualify for stimulus funding by next April. In November, when CHIME repeated the survey, that percentage had dropped by nearly half, to 15 percent, according to the organization's news release.

Chief information officers from community hospitals were more pessimistic. Only 5 percent of CIOs said they expected to qualify for funding in the first six months, compared with 23 percent in the August CHIME survey, according to the report.

Across the board, CIOs said their top hurdle in achieving early stimulus-funding compliance was meeting computerized provider order entry (CPOE) requirements. Nearly 30 percent said that was their top concern. Another 22 percent listed capturing or submitting quality measures as their most formidable hurdle. Vendor readiness was the main concern of another 13 percent.

Certification is less problematic than it was in August. That's because authorized testing and certification bodies began rapid certification of complete EHR systems and modules in early October, CHIME reported.

The good news is that the proportion of CIOs saying they expected to achieve meaningful use standards between April 1, 2011, and Sept. 30, 2012, increased by 61 percent. In all, three out of every four respondents predicted they would qualify for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act during that time period.

Nearly 200 CHIME members responded to the online survey, conducted Nov. 8-22. About 41 percent of respondents work for community hospitals; 28 percent are executives at multihospital systems; 13 percent are at academic medical centers; and 18 percent work at other medical organizations.